Mass Effect: Before the Storm
by W.A.R1989
Summary: The reapers are coming and Shepherd is on trial on Earth for a desperate crime. While the hero is stuck, others stand to prepare for the coming storm in his place. Prelude to Part 3. UPDATED FOR CORRECTIONS AND NEW CHAPTERS. NOW ACCEPTING REQUESTS.
1. Chapter 1: Retribution

**Chapter 1: Retribution**

_**Four Months Ago-Council Chambers**_

Councilor Tevos came in to the Council Chambers exhausted. Last night she was up all night, dealing with angry calls from the Hegemony on the loss of their citizens in the Bahak system. The incident in that system was unlike anything the galaxy has heard before, an asteroid collided into a mass relay and the resulting explosion wiped out the system, there were no survivors. Up until then, it was thought that mass relays were indestructible, but after what happened it had now set dangerous precedent…Mass relays were now fair targets. She made her way to her podium in the center, her other three colleagues were exhausted also.

"I suppose you gotten calls too…" Tevos said.

"From batarian citizens on the Citadel, and their other colonies…" Valern said.

"Death threats from the Hegemony's high military" Anderson said. "They seem dead set in believing humans had something to do with this…."

"Well don't you?" Sparatus asked bluntly. Anderson frowned at him. "Don't give me that look, Anderson we all know the history between your people and the batarians….I've even heard rumors…."

"Bullshit! Neither humanity nor Shepherd had anything to do with this tragedy!" Anderson said angrily.

"You sure about that, Councilor? I've had reports of the Normandy entering the system" Valern said. "Considering his relations with Cerberus…"

"Shepherd is no longer apart of Cerberus, he told me himself after he finished his mission" Anderson said. "I know him, hell I raised him since he was sixteen, he wouldn't do this"

"I seriously doubt that" Sparatus said. "Look at his background, lost his family and friends on Mindoir, the incident on Torfan, and the X-57 incident just two years ago….his whole life has been shaped by the batarians, I'm surprised he didn't join Cerberus sooner…" Anderson glared at him, Sparatus had never liked humanity getting a council seat or a spectre even after humanity played a role in saving the Citadel from Saren. The old turian was a veteran of the First Contact War just like the dead ex-spectre, there was still a grudge against the Alliance for daring to be equal to the Hierarchy.

"I see you're quick to forget how Shepherd saved your life, Councilor" Anderson said. "That he saved all of us"

"After you broke your own people's laws…" the turian said. Tevos clear her throat and Anderson and Sparatus stopped their argument.

"The fact of the matter is that humanity, a council race is on the edge of war with the Hegemony…" Tevos said. "If war were to break out, we would have no choice but to join in and I don't believe that would be in our best interest"

"So what? We surrender Shepherd to the lynch mob?!"

"I believe the Alliance are the ones doing that, not us" Valern said. "However, they may have the right idea…." Anderson looked at the Salarian shocked. Councilor Valern wasn't a politician that tried to operate out of compassion but pure cold calculations. If someone was problem, he would have no problem throwing them under bus. "I say we strip him of his status…to show the batarians that we are taking this seriously."

"Because you've always taken the Batarians seriously…" Anderson said dryly.

Valern frowned. "We wouldn't have to, if your damned protégé learned to keep out of trouble!"

"Enough" Tevos said. She then sighed. "It's obvious we have strong opinions on the matter, let us end our session today and think on the matter" Anderson was the first to leave the chambers; he had to get to the bottom of this.

"Anderson is not going to be easy to sway to our side" Sparatus said. "He's too loyal to Shepherd, admirable for a human, but…"

"A problem…if even one of us is seen on Shepherd's side, the batarians will be out for our blood…" Valern said grimly.

"What should we do? He's the first councilor for Humanity, Earth won't be happy if we just vote him out"

"Not if he has a successor, I'm sure the Alliance believes Anderson to be a liability also" Valern said. Tevos thought about this, the asari have never likes stabbing people in the back, but at this perilous moment, she couldn't afford to hesitate.

"Do it"

"I shall make the calls…"

_**Presidium-Anderson's apartment**_

Anderson arrived at his Apartment, tired from arguing with the other councilors. He sighed at the emptiness of it, no one to greet him home from a hard day's work. He used to be married with two sons, but military life got in the way and his wife gave him an ultimatum: either leave the Alliance and spend time with his family or say good-bye to that family. Ultimately he choose the military, and his wife and sons cut all ties, he sighed…it was probably for the best, his life wasn't getting any less exciting. He got undressed, and took a cold shower before plotting on the couch and watching the vids. He frowned.

"This is a special Westerlund News documentary: Commander Shepherd: Story of a Fallen Hero" the vid said. "Narrated by Khalisah Bint Sinan al-Jilani" The image changed to woman in a dark blue dress sitting on stool in the middle.

"Good Evening to all my Citadel viewers, as you've heard Commander Shepherd has been recalled to Earth to answer for the Bahak incident" She said. "Let us look back, at the history of Commander Shepherd before he became the disgraced Commander Shepherd" Anderson changed the channel; however he could not get away from the fallen hero stories they were doing for Shepherd. The media didn't waste any time moving on this story, not caring that Shepherd once saved their lives; and when he saw documentaries that were trying to vindicate Saren of all people…. Anderson turned the vid off in disgust.

"Ungrateful bastards…" His omni-tool beeped. He answered it and saw a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. His eyes went wide. "Kahlee…"

The woman smiled. "Long time no see, David" Kahlee Sanders was an old friend of Anderson, she was there with him twenty years ago when Anderson was being scouted as a possible spectre candidate. She was also there when Saren betrayed them, and blamed Anderson for the debacle and costing him his position in the spectres. Nowadays, she works as the head technology teacher at Grissom Academy, a school set up by her father Jon Grissom. Anderson took a look at his old friend, twenty years and she was still beautiful, her blonde hair was dulled from age but that didn't detract from her beauty. Kahlee was a natural blonde, a rarity in this day and age, which made her look exotic when they were younger.

Anderson blushed a little. "Uh…the years have been good to you, Kahlee…"

Kahlee smiled and blushed. "You too, David…" In that instant, twenty years came flooding back, she and Anderson were always attracted to each other, however things kept getting in the way back then…for one he was already seeing someone, and plus her father hated his guts for putting her life in jeopardy during his spectre test, even though that was Saren's fault not his. Kahlee snapped out of her thoughts, she was here for business. "David, I need your help…."

Anderson frowned. "What's wrong? Are you in trouble?"

"No, it's one of my students, she was taken by a Cerberus mole" Kahlee said. "I can't talk to Alliance officials, Cerberus may have more moles and you're the only one I trust on this"

"The only you trust, what about old man Grissom?" Anderson asked.

Kahee looked away. "Dad is gone; he passed away six months ago"

"I'm so sorry, Kahlee…" he said. "But wait, if he's gone then that means"

"Yes, I'm in charge of Grissom Academy" Kahlee said. "So please…"

"Kahlee I wish I could, but…" A beep came from his omni-tool. "Hold on Kahlee…" He opened the message and his eyes went wide, apparently Council had a vote behind his back and booted it him out as Councilor. It turns out they weren't kidding about appeasing the batarians, and decided to boot him out because he was on Shepherd's side. Anderson wanted to be angry, he really did, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Now he could do things his way without the Council getting in the way. "Kahlee, where do we meet?"

"Omega, bring plenty of firearms"

Anderson nodded. "See you there"

_**Omega- two days later**_

"You sure she's here?" Anderson said.

"Yeah, the info is from the Shadow Broker, its good" Kahlee said.

Anderson looked at her. "The Shadow Broker? You sure that's a good idea?" he asked. "He doesn't give away information without a price…"

"I know, but he seemed incredibly generous, he contacted me personally with information" She said. That was a surprise, the Shadow Broker wasn't known for his generosity, and there was always some hook for his help. He wanted to say more, but let it go.

"So what now?"

"We find her father, Paul Grayson…he's looking for her also…"

**_Welcome to Before the Storm, a prelude story to Mass Effect 3: Beauty and the Beast. So what do you think?_**

******_If you have any ideas to make the story better, Private Message me on my profile. And as always, Review and Comment. _**


	2. Chapter 2: Inquisition

**Chapter 2: Inquisition**

_**Omega-Roan District a day ago**_

The Roan district was rough little area in southern Omega, murder and debauchery triple here than anywhere else on Omega which was saying something. Not even Aria came to this area without back-up, which was a perfect place to hide a certain biotic prodigy. However little did they know, they were found and the man who was hunting him was pissed beyond all reason.

"That's them?" an asari in dark grey clothes said. Liselle T'loak, daughter of the empress herself, Aria T'Loak despite her young age she was every bit as dangerous as her mother. She had to be, her mother had too many enemies that wouldn't hesitate to use her against the empress. And so she was trained from a very young age to look out for herself until she could break a krogan's spine with little effort. At her side came a rugged human in his mid-thirties in his old grey and black armor, something she hadn't seen in years.

"Yeah, those bastards better not have hurt her or else…" he said glowing a dark blue. Liselle grabbed his arm and the man stopped glowing.

"Don't worry, Paul, we'll get her out" she said gently. The asari then smirked. "And then we'll mail the men's corpse back to Cerberus as warning" Paul smirked at his lover's attempt to cheer him up. Paul Grayson was a former Cerberus operative, their top sweeper; he made sure Cerberus' little secrets never see the light of day usually by pistol. Years ago, he couldn't see himself falling for an alien or even fighting Cerberus, back then he truly believed in Cerberus ideals to make a better humanity. But that all changed when he met Gillian, his adopted daughter, Cerberus was trying to build her up as the ultimate biotic but instead they were hurting her and so one night he sneaked Gillian out until he met with an Alliance official named Kahlee Sanders. The deal was simple, the Alliance would keep his daughter safe and Paul would go off the grid, he went to Omega as it was the place that drew little attention. It was there where he became one of Aria's top enforcers and where he met and fell in love with her daughter.

The men in black went into the abandon building; it was old and rundown enough where they wouldn't attract any attention. Paul put on his Recon Hood. "Let's go…" Liselle put on her helmet and the duo went in silently taking out the guards. They went up to the stairs where they could hear someone talking in the next room. He couldn't recognize the first man's voice, but he could definitely recognize the other voice…the Illusive Man.

"Do you have the girl?" The Illusive Man said.

"Yeah, I'm just stopping at Omega to lose some unwanted company" the other man said. The Illusive Man looked at Gillian who was bound and gagged to a chair surrounded by two guards. The girl looked absolutely terrified; her eyes were dark from crying which was probably why she was gagged.

"Don't be afraid, Little Gillian, you will give birth to a new era for humanity" he said. "You should feel honored" Paul growled at his voice, it was the same bullshit line he fed him during his Cerberus days. "I will be expecting updates"

"Sir" Paul and Liselle made their move, their first target was the two guard surrounding Gillian; Liselle threw the first guard against the metal wall snapping his neck. Paul shifted behind the second guard and slit her throat, while Liselle held the leader up by gun point, Paul cut Gillian free. Gillian looked at her father and tears ran down her face.

"Daddy…" She ran to Paul and hugged the man sobbing. Paul wrapped his arms around his daughter, it felt good to hold his daughter in his arms, all he had got from Kahlee were pictures of his daughter having a regular life. He desperately wanted to be a part of her life but he knew he couldn't.

"It's alright, baby girl, you're safe…" Paul looked at the man Liselle was holding at gunpoint and glared at him making him flinch. "Gillian, look at me, I want you to close your eyes and cover your ears and no questions" Gillian nodded and closed her eyes and covered her ears. Paul went to the man and shoved him to the floor, the man yelled in pain as Paul shot him in the leg. "Name now"

"Fuck you!" Paul stomped on his wound and twists his heel to make pain more intense. He screamed in agony, Paul looked back and saw his daughter with her eyes closed and ears covered, good he didn't want her to see his interrogation. The man groaned. "J..Jiro Toshiwa"

"Okay, Jiro Toshiwa, question one…what is Cerberus up to this time?"

"I…I can't answer that…they would kill me if I told you…"

"You're going to die anyway, so you might as well tell me" Paul said coldly. Toshiwa looked at him with wide eyes, good he wanted him in fear, a lesson to not screw with him or his daughter. "Damn it…C...Cerberus wants…." Before he could finish his sentence, he started to sputter and scream.

"What the hell?" Liselle asked. Toshiwa started to foam at the mouth until he went limp, he was dead. Paul came in closer to examine the body, he pulled out a little device from his mouth and analyzed it. It was full of cyanide, all Cerberus operatives carried cyanide capsules under their teeth, it was a safeguard in the event that an operative was captured, and an operative was expected to die to keep the organization's secrets from falling into enemy hands. Paul frowned, this device was activated remotely…which meant…

"Shit! Liselle get Gillian and get the hell out of here!"

"What?"

"We're not alone, another sweeper is here!" Out of the corner of his eyes, a man came up behind him with a sword; Paul instantly blocked it with his combat knife. The man had on black and silver light armor, his hair was black and long tied into a pony tail, his face was distinctly Eurasian. Liselle hesitated for a moment, but took the girl by the hand and ran for the exit. The man in Cerberus armor kicked Paul off and tried to shoot Liselle and Gillian, but Paul rammed into wall him giving the two women time to escape. The assailant cracked his neck, and rose out of the debris like it was nothing, Paul stood his ground expecting a tough fight.

"Not bad…for a relic…" he said. "This might be fun…"

Paul snorted. "Huh, a greenhorn…let's see if Cerberus' training has gotten any better" The two men moved forward, both going for the others throat…

_**The Citadel-C-sec HQ**_

Kolyat sighed. "Why do they try when there is no escape from the law?" he asked annoyed. Kolyat came in HQ with a rather loud and unruly criminal he picked up for red sand dealing. It had been several months since the young drell had tried to take the life of the turian politician, Joram Talid in the 800 blocks, where he tried to become like the father he barely knew and when that father stopped him. They had talked it out, or tried to after ten years of not seeing his father, Kolyat wasn't willing to listen, at least not yet. After Shepherd and Thane left to continue their mission, Bailey came to him with proposition: join C-sec in which Kolyat accepted. The training was tough, tougher than he thought but he passed with flying colors and soon was working on his own beat.

"Fuck you, frog boy!" his prisoner said angrily. Kolyat sighed and calmly slammed him against the wall.

"Sir, you have the right to remain silent…" he said. "Or you can continue, I have no problems introducing you to the wall all day" The dealer wanted to curse at him, but kept his mouth closed as the drell walked him to be processed. "Captain? Captain Bailey, I've got another suspect" He went to his desk and found the human not there. Someone spoke up.

"If you're looking for the Captain, he's in the interrogation room…" the turian C-sec officer said.

"With who?"

"Councilor Udina…" A couple of days after ousting Councilor Anderson, the council wasted no time in finding his successor. They picked Udina, Anderson's assistant to replace him, he was the easy choice, although he wasn't exactly the popular choice due to his attitude. Kolyat put away the red sand dealer, just in time for the two men to come out.

"Councilor, I'm not sure about this…as stiff and up-tight he can be, betrayal is not his style" Bailey said.

"It is a surprise I know, but the facts are all there, for the good of the council and the C-sec…you know what must be done" Udina walked away, leaving a very confused Bailey. The blonde-haired man rubbed his temples as he looked around at the officers standing around looking at him.

Baily frowned. "What the fuck are you looking at?! Get back to work!" The officers all quickly got back to their posts as Bailey went to his desk to take out headache medicine. He struggled to get the top off; Kolyat came up and helped him. Baliey grunted. "Thanks kid"

"Uh, Captain, you okay? Never seen you so pissed before" Kolyat said.

"No I'm not, fucking Udina…" Bailey cursed as he consumed the pills. "Udina has asked to investigate Executor Pallin" Kolyat looked with wide eyes, Executor Pallin was a legend within C-sec along with Kazen Valkarian, these two men set the bar high for all officers in C-sec.

"On what charges?"

"Treason…"


	3. Chapter 3: Conspiracy

_**Review and Comment….**_

**Chapter 3: Conspiracy**

_**Citadel-Presidium**_

"I cannot believe we are doing this…" Kolyat said.

"Shh! Be quiet, I'm trying to work here" Baily said tinkering with the lock device. It was nighttime on the Citadel, Captain Bailey and Kolyat went to Executor Pallin's office to find the evidence of betrayal their leader. Because of how controversial the topic of Pallin's betrayal was, the investigation was between the Captain and the young recruit. Ever since Udina came with such charges, something was bothering Bailey, the Executor was always by the book…betrayal wasn't like the turian at all. A beep came from the device, and the door opens. "Okay, we're in…"

"I'm impressed, the Executor's office is supposed to be the toughest place to get into next to the Council" Kolyat said. "And you did it in the matter of minutes"

Bailey chuckled. "Some of our tools are not what you would call legal" Kolyat looked at him surprised, other than the rough treatment of criminals; he had always thought the human to follow the rules. "Don't give me that look, do you know how hard it is to do our jobs with the new rules these brain dead politicians come up with?"

Kolyat thought about it. "Good point…." The two men came in the office, this was the first time either of them seen the Executor's office. They were surprised how modest the accommodations were for the top cop on the Citadel, some desks, some high-end computers, but otherwise nothing special. "I'm kind of disappointed; I was expecting a lesser version of the Citadel Tower…"

Bailey shook his head. "Check for clues, kid…I'll check his messages" The young drell nodded and went on his way, while Bailey checked Pallin's laptop. He turned on the computer, where he was blocked by Pallin's security access. Bailey frowned. "Damn, a trigger type…I imput the wrong code and this will alert every C-sec officer within the area" he said. "Good thing I came prepared…" Bailey opened his omni-tool.

"Please enter password"

"Disappear…" The screen changes to green and loaded some options.

"Welcome Fade" A little gift he picked from Harkin, a black market grade encryption program, it could open any security program no matter how complex the system. It was how Harkin was able to obtain C-sec security codes for his Blue sun friends, but now he was putting it in good use for their side. Bailey scanned the laptop and the security was automatically unlocked, he sat down and looked at his messages, his browser history something that could give a clue. After a few minutes of searching, there was nothing….nothing out of the blue, mostly messages from the turian's family, upcoming meetings with several ambassadors, and a scheduled visit to Sha'ira the consort. Bailey frowned; he started to wonder if this was nothing more than political chest-thumping from Udina to impress his new colleagues.

"Uh Captain? You may want to see this…" Bailey got up and walked over to the drell, who had a disturbed look on his face. Bailey found out why: two dead C-sec agents, a turian and a asari, stuffed into a storage compartment. Both bodies had a hole in the head.

"That's not good…" Bailey looked down and saw a datapad on the floor with Executor Pallin's image on it. "Looks like we're not the only ones looking into this" From behind them, a gun clicked and charged. "Shit…" A rough voice spoke behind them.

"Turn around…slowly…." Bailey and Kolyat turned slowly and there was Executor Pallin with a pistol aimed at him. "What are you doing here?"

"Our jobs, Councilor Udina wanted us to investigate you, said you sold us out…" Bailey said. There was no need to dance around the issue, they were caught, and they would at least hear Pallin's side of the story. However the turian stood there not moving, not talking, Bailey and Kolyat looked at each other.

"The datapad…hand it over…" Bailey looked over to Kolyat, and nodded at him. The drell threw the datapad over to Pallin. He caught it and looked over the datapad and frowned. "Udina is a very clever human…a very dangerous human, someone who shouldn't be trusted"

Bailey frowned. "He said the same thing about you…" he said. He looked at the bodies in the storage compartment. "I'm starting to wonder if he's right"

"Lies! Fabrications. All of it." Pallin said angrily.

"We'll see who's lying when we get back to HQ" Pallin, enraged, opens fire on Bailey, hitting the shoulder of his armor, he falls back on the ground clutching his shoulder. Pallin turned to aim at Kolyat, but the young drell takes out his gun and fires, hitting Pallin in the chest.

"Captain, you alright?"

Blood was dripping out of his armor; he was going to need a lot of medi-gel to patch this up. "Just a flesh wound…" He lied. Bailey saw that Pallin was clutching his chest, a dead on hit to the chest was enough to drop a person to the ground, but the turian was only on his knees. He then could see a slight shimmering around him, he had a shield generator on him, he was prepared for a confrontation. But he could also see blue blood covering his hand; Kolyat got him that was for sure.

"I've done nothing wrong, you won't get away with this…."

"It's not up to us…"

"You're wrong…" Suddenly Pallin dives for Bailey, but falls just short of his feet when Kolyat shoots him in the head, killing him. Bailey looked at Kolyat, he was breathing heavily with the pistol shaking in his hand aim at the air, it was the young drell's first kill and he was shaken to his core. Bailey lowered Kolyat's arm. "At ease son…at ease…" Bailey got off the floor, and retrieves the datapad and frowned, Pallin was sloppy…uncharacteristically so tonight he could have killed them when they were off-guard, but chose not to. Things just did not add up….

The next day, Bailey went to Udina's office for some answers. The Captain snorted, Udina certainly didn't waste any time moving out Anderson's stuff and replacing it with his own. Udina was talking to talking to his aides before he noticed Bailey; he dismissed the aides and went over to the captain.

"Good job, on Pallin Bailey you've done the Citadel and Humanity proud" Udina said.

"It's not a victory sir, I couldn't take him alive…"

Udina went back to his desk and took a sip of coffee. "The fact he would take it this far only proves his guilt" He then looked at Bailey. "Unless you're not convinced…"

Bailey sighed. "It's just that when I confronted him on the charges, he seemed as surprised about it as I was"

Udina snorted. "Please he was only shocked he got caught…"

"I don't know sir…I've been on the beat for twenty years now, you learn to read people" Bailey said. "My gut is telling me that Pallin may have been innocent…"

"Captain, you're tired, it was long night why don't you get some rest and let the investigators handle this"

Bailey sighed. "Of course sir, maybe a vacation will do me good, I hear Earth is nice this time of year…" He was about to walk away, before Udina spoke up.

"You may not be able to do that, Captain"

Bailey looked back. "Excuse me, sir?"

"The other Councilors were impressed by how you handled the case, and have agreed to promote you to Commander" For once Bailey was speechless, he was only doing his job, he didn't expect a promotion. He wasn't sure if wanted the extra responsibility, but from the look on Udina's face it looked like he didn't have a choice. "The council will expect a full report of your findings"

Bailey sighed and saluted. "Yes sir…" Bailey walked out of the office where he met with Kolyat. He was surprised to see the young drell before him; Baily had allowed him to take some time off for possible trauma from killing Pallin. "Kid? What are you doing here?"

"Reporting for duty, sir" Bailey was about to say something. "I'm okay, running away from last night is not going solve anything, besides I'm a drell I have perfect memory…it's going to stay with me forever, might as well live with it" Bailey chuckled, he underestimated the drell, he had grown up from that rash young man months ago. If his father, Thane, was here he would be proud of his growth.

"Well, in that case, I hope you like to work hard, because we have a report to the council to do" Bailey said.

"Uh…isn't that the Commander's job…?"

Bailey groaned and rubbed his head. "You're looking at him….

_**Omega-Roan District**_

Paul was lying in a pool of his own blood, he had put up a good fight against the unknown sweeper, but the weapons and training he had outclassed his. The Cerberus operative looked over him, his sword coated with his blood, this was it…he was going to die…

"You put up a good fight, relic…if you didn't betray Cerberus things would have been much easier for you and the girl" he said.

"Bullshit, Cerberus is no longer the organization I believed in" Paul said weakly. "Experimenting on kids, turning them into killing machines, that is not how humanity's protector is supposed to act!"

"Naïve little fool, a storm is coming soon and humanity must be ready" he said. "And when the dust settles we will be on top…"

"And how much of your soul are you willing to sell for such power?"

The operative gave a cruel grin. "A weapon has no use for something as useless as a soul…"

"Then I pity you…" Those were the last words Paul ever spoke before the operative plunged his sword into the man's heart silencing him forever. The operative wiped his sword clean and sheath it as he walked away to start his hunt for Liselle and Gillian.


	4. Chapter 4: Nightmares

**Chapter 4: Nightmares**

_**Fehl Prime- Months ago**_

_Fehl Prime, a beautiful world in the Terminus Systems full of desserts and forests, after the hustle and bustle of Illium it was nice to come back to a quiet and peaceful place. To think just two years ago, it was a war zone. The blood pack led by the krogan battlemaster Archuk attack the colony, causing the Alliance to respond with several teams of marines. However they had underestimated how strong this squad of blood pack mercs was and the marines were slaughtered until Delta Team, James' team were the only ones left. They prevailed against the blood pack, though not without earning some stitches and broken ribs for their trouble. _

_After saving the colony, they were ordered by Admiral Hackett to remain on Fehl Prime and bulid up its defenses, much to the team's chagrin; however they soon came to see the colony as home. "Home sweet home" James said with a smile. As he walked into the colony with the shadow of planetary defense system overlooking him, what they were building in case more mercs had the smart idea of attacking the colony. _

_As he walked over the hill, he saw his friends come up to greet him; the first one to run towards him was a girl, no older than six. She had reddish-brown hair and wearing a white t-shirt in overalls, she had a huge smile that showed some missing teeth which the giant man always considered cute. "James!" she lept into his arms, and James smiled as he gave her huge hug._

"_Hey April, did ya miss me?" He asked. April O'Conner, one the colonists that James had bonded with since being stationed on the colony. When his team was working on the defense systems, she and her mother would always come over to visit. His team would always joke about April being James' girlfriend, due to the young girl having a crush on him. Unfortunately, April being a young and impressionable, came to believe she was James' girlfriend much James' annoyance. He heard a chuckle, it was April's mother._

"_Miss you? She couldn't stop asking when you were coming home" James chuckled and looked at April and reached into his bag._

"_Hey I got you something, kiddo" Her eyes lit up as she saw a box with a plastic hanar in._

"_The new blasto action figure! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" April said excitedly. James chuckled and rubbed her head._

"_What no gift for us?" James looked up and saw a blonde hair man with a shit-eating grin. Jake Essex, the biotic of the team, and the loud-mouth of the team, but when push comes to shove he would fight and die for James._ _He has a carefree and easygoing nature, constantly bragging about his biotic abilities to the point of overconfidence, though his boasts do have some basis, however, since he is capable of casually dispatching enemies and takes pleasure in doing so. He's also prone to making mistakes due to grandstanding but mostly manages to make up for them in one way or another, his excuse being his favorite statement "Just trying to look cool before I die."_

_James smirked. "I think you have enough porn in your collection, Essex"_

"_He's got you there" a man in glasses said. He shook James hand. "Welcome back, Vega" Nicolas 'Nicky' IIyin, technical and tactical specialist of Delta Squad, He is a shy and timid person but seldom fails to perform well in trying situations. He has a healthy respect for the chain of command and shows great deference to James, though he often gets called a kiss ass by Essex at times._

"_Good to be back" April walked over to them and grabbed his hand._

"_Come on, James, we want to show you something…" _

"_April, what do you say…?" Her mother scolded._

"_Oh yeah, please…" James chuckled and let the little girl lead him over to Delta Squad's barracks; the room was dark for some reason, until Essex turned the light on revealing a huge banner that said Happy Birthday._

"_SURPRISE!" James smiled, he had rarely celebrated his birthday, wasn't planning to but the others had plans of their one. Next to the cake, were more of his friends, Kamille Garcia the only female on Delta Squad, she is a sincere and obedient soldier and her training speaks for itself on the battlefield. Next to her was her boyfriend, Jamal Mason, another member of Delta Squad he was a big guy that didn't talk much and let his action speak for him. For as long as James had known them, they have been in a relationship, being high school sweethearts, though that doesn't stop Essex from shamelessly hitting on Kamille, much to their annoyance. To the far wall, was Todd Milque, the last member of Delta Squad he was the loner of the team, as the infiltrator on the team he was cynical and abrasive at times, but loyal to a fault. He nodded his head, not the warmest welcoming but from him it would do._

"_I'm surprised Milque came, I would have thought he'd be off somewhere brooding"_

"_It wasn't easy, but he came once Treeya asked him too" Essex said. James looked and saw Treeya around Milque, the infiltrator seemed…content. Treeya was an asari anthropologist, back in the day James had a huge crush on her, however he gave up after he found out she was seeing Milque. Not only that, she was a peaceful person who hated violence, and unfortunately James' first instinct is to crack some skulls. The party went off without a hitch, there was laughing, some dancing, even their commanding officer, Captain Toni joined in festivities. This was one of the best days he had ever had, only for it to become the worst…. _

"_What the hell, Vega?! What about the colonists?!" Milque asked._

_James hesitated, two weeks after his party the Collectors came and invaded the colony. The colonist fought back like they did against the Blood Pack two years ago, but Collectors were relentless, they were either killed or immobilized. James's team was no different; Kamille was captured and was processed into one of their weapons where she killed Mason. Nicky was killed by an attack that meant for James, and Essex volunteered to stay behind to give James and the rest of the team time to rescue the colonists. They were able to free the colonists from stasis, but Treeya was captured by a traitor among them due having vital information on the Collectors. It was there he had to make the hardest decision in his life, let the colonists die for the information Treeya had or let Treeya die and save the colonist…._

"_We need to get Treeya…"James said turning away._

"_But Vega…they'll die!"_

"_DON'T YOU THINK I KNOW THAT?!" James snapped. "I'm letting thousands of people die, some of whom I consider friends, but if there's even a chance that information can prevent a tragedy like this from happening in the future….I have to take it…." James and Milque ran towards Treeya's direction._

_**Omega-Now**_

In his run-down apartment was a broken James Vega, he was sitting in his chair just staring out the window in complete darkness. His eyes were dark from the lack of sleep, not because he couldn't but because he wouldn't…every time he closed his eyes, images of that day would come to haunt him. He could still hear it all, happy laughter of April, the festive cheers at his party, music from when he and Lia danced on Illium it was the only thing keeping him sane. His omni-tool beeped, he didn't even need to look, he knew what it was…it was another call from Lia. He let it beep until it stopped, he couldn't let Lia see him like this….it wasn't fair to her….

_**Citadel- After Fehl Prime**_

_Councilor Anderson and Admiral Hackett were on the vid screen commending him for Vega' for the intel saved, saying that he saved a lot of lives in the process and that he should be proud. James scoffed bitterly at that, he wasn't a hero, he was a murderer that deserved to be punished. Afterwards, James, Milque and Treeya went back to Fehl Prime to pay their respects, the Alliance were there shifting through the wreckage of the collector ship that had become a tomb for the colonists. As they walked, James felt something below his feet; it was the blasto toy he had bought for April, except now it was melted to the point of being unrecognizable. The soldier starts to breath hard; as the tears started to flow from his eyes… he becomes distraught and runs aimlessly through the remains of the colony as the memories kept replaying in his head. Milque and Treeya run after him, to make sure he didn't anything to hurt himself until they found him in front of a monument on his knees._

_He held the ruined toy close to him, as he sobbed. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…"_


	5. Chapter 5: Wrath

_**Review and Comment….**_

**Chapter 5: Wrath**

_**Omega-Roan District**_

Kahlee and Anderson followed the info from the Shadow Broker, to locate Paul Grayson. When they got to the old warehouse, they found the carnage left by Paul. Multiple dead bodies, some with broken necks, and others with slit throats nothing was left standing. Anderson didn't know whether to be impressed or sickened.

"Is Grayson always this destructive?" Anderson said.

"This is nothing; you should have seen his work two years ago…" Kahlee said. Anderson was going to ask her what happened, decided against it, it was probably best if he didn't know the details. They made up to the top floor, where they found two dead Cerberus soldiers and a man in white, but no Gillian.

"Grayson must have gotten Gillian out, but why hasn't he contacted us yet?" Kahlee didn't answer. "Kahlee?" He looked at Kahlee, as she went over to the man in white.

"Toshiwa…"

"You know him?"

Kahlee sighed. "Dr. Jiro Toshiwa, he was an Ascension Project scientist" she said. "Or at least that's what he told us; really he was the Cerberus mole that took Gillian…" Anderson looked at Kahlee, her face showed nothing but her voice sounded pained. There was more to this….

"What was he to you?"

Kahlee looked at him and hesitated. "We…we were lovers…when I met him, he was friendly, good-natured man" she said. "Hell of a sense of humor, real popular with the students, Gillian especially trusted him" Kahlee shook her head. "But that was all an act…"

"I'm sorry…you deserve better…" Anderson said.

Kahlee smiled a little, the same beautiful that made the soldier fall for her twenty years ago. "Thank you…" Kahlee looked out of the corner of her eye and saw a man in black and grey armor…black and grey armor she recognized. "Oh god…" She ran towards the other room, with Anderson close behind, they found man bloodied and bruised with his armor pierced. They found Grayson.

"This explains why Grayson didn't call, but where's Gillian?" Anderson said. All of the sudden, Paul's omni-tool beeped and a female's voice came out.

"Paul? Paul…you bastard speak to me!" Anderson and Kahlee looked at each other, Kahlee opened her omni-tool.

"Hello?"

"Who is this?!" She snapped.

"Kahlee Sanders, Headmistress of Grissom Academy"

"I see…Paul told me about you, although he didn't mention you were in charge of the place also" She said. "My name is Liselle T'Loak, I'm Paul's girlfriend"

"Wait, T'Loak? You wouldn't happen to be…" Anderson asked.

"Yes, Aria T'Loak is my mother" she said. "Who's this?"

"David Anderson of the Alliance" he said. "Is Gillian safe?"

"Yeah, she's at Afterlife, she's under the protection of my mother's men" Liselle said. "What happened to Paul? He was supposed to meet me here…" Kahlee and Anderson went silent. "…Well?"

"I'm sorry…but Grayson's gone, he was killed…"

"What…? But that can't…" She took a deep breath. "Thank you for telling me…Gillian's in the VIP room, just drop my name and they'll let you in…" Anderson frowned; her voice was way too calm for the loss of a lover, until he had a sinking feeling.

"Liselle, don't throw away your life especially for vengeance" Anderson said.

"You just worry about getting the girl out of here…I will worry about Paul's murderer…" The com went off.

"Wait!"

_**Omega**_

The Cerberus assassin was in the shadows going after the girl; his fight with Grayson had taken more time than he thought as he was now making up lost time. Luckily, Toshiwa was smart enough to put a tracer on the girl, so now he could track her no matter where she was on Omega. However he had to stop when he saw some strange readings, the signal was moving towards his directions, were they really that stupid to approach him? Suddenly the platform under him gave way and he started to fall towards the ground. The assassin recovered and used his sword to slow his decent by stabbing it into the wall, just when he thought he was safe a blue flash struck him and he fell in the slums.

"Get up!" A voice said. The assassin looked up and saw the asari Paul was with glowing blue with a look of pure hatred on her face. "I said get up!"

The assassin got up and dusted himself off. He smirked. "Grayson's asari whore...clever using Toshsiwa's tracking device to track me" Liselle fired off a throw field, and the assassin dodged it and charge the asari. Liselle took out her shotgun, to blast the assassins head off; the assassin stabbed her in the arm and kicked the shotgun away. Liselle head-butts the operative, stunning him, she took the sword out of her arm and threw it away as she hit him with a shockwave. He smashed into the wall and landed on the ground, as his vison returned to him he saw the asari glowing with biotic power walking towards him. He seethed in anger, it would be a cold day in hell before he let a filthy alien kill him.

"Any last words before I turn you into a puddle?" Liselle asked coldly.

"Watch your step…" The assassin aimed his palm blaster at a busted transformer near her, fired causing it to go up in flames. Liselle rolled out-of-the-way of the explosion only for the assassin to rush her and hold her up by her head. Liselle was struggling to get out of his grip but he was too strong. The assassin gave a sickening grin. "You know out of all the alien's I've killed, asari have to be my favorite, I love the way you bitches scream when I dig my blade into you" He reached behind him and took out a combat knife. "It's almost better than sex…" The night sky was filled with the young asari's screams.

_**Omega-Afterlife**_

Kahlee and Anderson went to Afterlife to retrieve Gillian, the club was a blazed with colors, music, and dancing from patrons and the dancers. They went to the VIP room, where a turian and a batarian were guarding the room, they had to admit they weren't exactly comfortable with Aria's men guarding the human child; they were especially worried about the batarian due to the tension between humanity and the Hegemony. But Liselle assured them, they could be trusted, because they wouldn't dare cross the daughter of the empress herself.

"Who the fuck are you?" the turian asked.

"Kahlee Sanders and David Anderson, Liselle says my student is in this room" Kahlee said. The turian nodded and opened the door, where they saw the girl asleep on the bed. Kahlee went to Gillian, shaking her awake. "Gillian…comes on sweetie wake up…." She said gently. Gillian opened her eyes and got up.

"Miss Sanders!" The girl wrapped her arm around Kahlee, the older woman hugged her tightly.

"It's alright, Gillian, you're safe…we're here to take you home"

"No we can't, not without Daddy…" Kahlee looked at Anderson, they would have to tell Gillian that her father died, murdered. They didn't want to have to, it would break her heart, but she had to know no matter how much it hurt.

"Gillian…I'm sorry, but your father is gone…"

"He went away…?"

"No sweetie, I'm mean your father is dead….you won't see him again"

Tears welled up in her eyes; it was almost too painful to look at. "No…NO!" She started to cry hysterically as Kahlee held her tightly. Anderson stepped outside of the room while Kahlee consoled the child. "DADDY!"

Anderson clenched his fist, another life ruined by Cerberus. "Damn them…" His thoughts were then interrupted by shouting to the right of him. He saw a bunch of batarians ganging up on someone; it was getting quite a crowd. The first batarian charged first, but flew all the way across the table, the second came from the side and was thrown towards the bar. Two more batarians came in and a large figure smashed their heads together knocking them out. The figure spoke up.

"I told you fuckers I wasn't in the mood, now get the hell out of here pendejo!" he said angrily. The figure was revealed to be James Vega, after the incident on Fehl Prime, he disappeared never to be heard from again. He looked unhealthy, his clothes were a mess, his eyes were blood-shot probably from the heavy drinking, and he had dark bags under his eyes from lack of sleep. Vega went back to his table, taking another swig from a bottle of whisky. Anderson approached him. "Shit, another one…I told you to leave me alone!"

Anderson crossed his arms. "Is that anyway to speak to a commanding officer?" James looked to his side.

James snorted. "What's the esteemed Councilor of the Citadel doing in this shit-hole?"

"Admiral, not Councilor...not anymore, anyway I should be saying that…" Anderson said. "What's a good soldier like you doing here?"

James put down the bottle, and lowered his head. "A good soldier…what a joke…" James said softly. "A good soldier doesn't let thousands of civilians die for some fucking intel that turned out to be useless…." Anderson frowned; James was still hunted by his choice on Fehl Prime.

"Do you think you're the only one whose ever been faced with a hard choice?" James looked at him, as Anderson sat in front of him. "Everyone in our line of work has faced it, Shepherd and I are no different, but the important thing is to learn from those choices and grow to be the soldier humanity deserves" James stared at his bottle with a thoughtful look on his face, Anderson couldn't tell if he gotten through to him. Kahlee came up to Anderson, with Gillian in tow.

"Is she alright?"

"Yeah, it's going to be hard going forward, but I believe Gillian is strong enough to overcome this" Kahlee said. "We're ready to go when you are"

Anderson nodded and looked at James. "James, have you heard what's happening to Shepherd?"

"Yeah, who hasn't?" James said. "Why?"

"I wonder if you'll do me a favor, and guard Commander Shepherd on Earth…."

_**Next Chapter….we're going back to Shepherd, if you have any ideas, let me know!**_


	6. Chapter 6: Home

_**Review and Comment**__**…**_

**Chapter 6: Home**

_**Four Months ago**_

"_What the hell happen down there? I sent you to break Amanda out of prison and now she's dead and a whole system was wiped out"_

_Shepherd got up and gave him a data pad. "Your friend, was right the reapers were coming in two days, destroying the relay was only way to stop them" He said. "I'm sorry about your friend, she was indoctrinated"_

_"I started the engines with a little more than an hour left, I tried to warn the batarian colonists, but…time ran out"_

_"The batarian report said there were no survivors, at least you tried."_

_"Not good enough…" the spectre said._

_"And the threat was real?"_

_"We had only minutes to spare" Shepherd said. "So what now?"_

_Hackett sighed. "I won't lie, Commander, the batarians will want blood, and a war with the batarians is the last thing we need"_

_"I know, not with the reapers breathing down our backs"_

_"I know you did what you had to do, but in the end 300,000 batarians are dead and this will make the Alliance look bad" the admiral said._

_"What's your suggestion?" Shepherd asked. He was not going to like the answer._

_"Evidence is shoddy at best, but at some point, you will have to go to Earth and face the music" Hackett said. "I can't stop it, but I can make them fight for it"_

_Shepherd sighed. "I'll do it, but just promise me that you get the Alliance and the council prepared, I don't care if you have to go dirty to do it"_

_"I will try, though it will be an up-hill battle" he said walking away. "Do what you have to do, but when Earth calls, you make sure you're there with your dress blues on, ready to take the hit"_

_"I will…" Hackett threw the data pad back to Shepherd. "Admiral?"_

_"Keep it; I don't need it to tell me you did the right thing"_

_Shepherd gave a sharp salute. "Yes sir!"_

_"You did a hell of a thing, Commander" Hackett walked away, leaving Shepherd with his thoughts of an uncertain future._

_**Now-Tali and Shepherd**_

After the meeting with Hackett, the Normandy crew went about their business like nothing happened or at least tried to. Samara had left the ship, to continue on seeking out injustices in the galaxy, Thane was next, wishing to see his son on the Citadel, and finally Zaeed was the last to leave, possibly looking for his next job. Four months had passed, Shepherd received a summons from the Alliance committee…the top brass of the military and so honoring his promises the crew made their way to Earth.

Shepherd was in his room preparing his defense for the trial coming up; with the batarians trying anything to get his head on a platter he had to be prepared. The atmosphere on the ship had been tense and heavy for a few days, Shepherd couldn't blame them, the Alliance weren't exactly kind to Cerberus members, even ex-members. He had heard no word from Alliance Command on his room arrangements, but he had a sinking feeling it wasn't going to be good. Shepherd heard his door open; it was Tali, the love of his life. When they were making the journey to Earth, Shepherd offered to drop her off some place where she could hitch a shuttle back to the fleet but the Quarian was adamant on staying, saying he needed her. As much as he liked the fact Tali would be staying with him, he was worried how she and the other alien members would be treated. "Wayne, we just went through the Sol relay, we'll be on Earth in four hours, why don't you get some rest?"

Shepherd sighed; he put down the datapad and rubbed his tired eyes. "I can't, I have to prepare my defense for the trial"

"You've been at this since last night, if you keep this up, you won't have energy to defend yourself" she said concerned. She then went to Shepherd and put her hand on his. "Please, do it for me…"

Shepherd looked at her and smiled softly. "Okay, for you…" Tali sat down next to him and rest her head on his shoulder. They just sat around in each other's company, Shepherd could help how Tali stayed with him even through the toughest of times, Saren, Cerberus, the Collectors, and now this. Without her, he didn't know how he would be able to face the firing squad. "Thank you…"

Tali looked at him. "For what?"

"For staying with a dumbass like me, I know I'm not easiest…." Tali put her finger on his lips.

"Hush, you've always helped me out and the crew, it's the least I can do" She said. "And besides, I love you, you are my world, I could never abandon you"

Shepherd smiled and took off her helmet and kissed her cheek. "You're an angel you know that"

Tali tilted her head. "An…gel?"

He chuckled. "It's a creature in human mythology, they came to people in times of need, to give them hope" Shepherd said. "You're that for me"

Tali blushed. "Thank you, you're that for me also" she said, "So what's Earth like?"

Shepherd thought a moment, and was drawing blank; he didn't really know anything about Earth apart from the basic stuff from textbooks and extranet. Other than that he didn't really care, he had no emotional attachment to the planet other its humanity's homeworld. "I don't really know"

Tali looked at him. "You don't know about your people's homeworld?"

Shepherd rubbed his head. "I actually never stepped foot on Earth before"

"You're kidding?"

"Nope, the closest I got to Earth was Luna, Earth's moon" Shepherd said.

"Can you tell me anything?" Tali pouted.

"Well let's see, Earth is a planet that is mostly water, it has as abundance of life, and history but that's it" He said. "As for anything in depth, like culture you'll have to speak to Kaiden or Kasumi, thye was born on Earth"

Tali stood up and put her helmet back on. "Okay, I think I will"

"I don't get why all the sudden interest with Earth?" Tali came over and flicked his head, yet another trait she was picking up from the crew. "Ow…" Shepherd said rubbing his head.

"Duh, it's the ancestral home world of my boyfriend, why wouldn't I want to know about it"

Shepherd chuckled and shook his head. "Well, if you know anything let me know, I could use a course in Earth 101"

"Of course" Tali left the room, and Shepherd went to take a nap.

_**Illusive Man**_

Back on the Cerberus base, the Illusive Man was as usually up to no good. Since the defeat of the Collectors, things haven't been as smooth as he would have liked. Shepherd destroyed the collectors, took two of his best operatives, and the most advance ship and AI in the galaxy. Not to mention the huge set back with Project Overlord, which was again Shepherd's doing, but like any good mastermind, a setback wasn't going to keep him down. His com beeped.

"Well?"

"We've done it sir; we have the collectors' technology in our hands"

"It doesn't matter if it is our hands, does it work?" he asked while smoking a drab.

"Yes, despite what Shepherd did, the collectors' technology is surprisingly resilient, only taken minor damage"

"Will you be able to integrate it with our systems?"

The scientist nodded. "Yes, despite how advance the technology is, it is amazingly simple, but given the reapers history…"

"How soon?"

"Estimates are around four to six months"

"Then get to work, with the reapers so close, we can't afford any delay" Illusive man said. He then presses another weapon.

A dark-haired blue-eyed man appeared on the screen, he was dressed in clothing that suggests high-class. He was at his desk working on something before turning and facing camera. He frowned. "Who are you? What do you want?"

"Hello Mr. Lawson, I am the Illusive Man and I have a business proposition for you"

_**The Normandy**_

Tali were on the lounge deck speaking to Kaiden about Earth and Earth culture; after they were done she was left with more questions than answers. For one thing, how could one race have so much differences, and culture? It was mind-boggling, like the fact humans had over a thousand languages; she had always thought English were humans only language, but then she found out about Japanese from Kasumi. Then Kaiden went into human history and it gotten so overwhelming that she had to stop to digest it all, including all the war humans had been in against each other.

"Keelah it's a wonder you don't collapse like the krogan"

Kaiden chuckled. "I know it's amazing to us too" Tali giggled and then she lowered her head, as she thought back to the trial.

"Kaiden tell me the truth, how bad is this?"

Kaiden sighed. "It's like Hackett said, evidence is shoddy at best, no witnesses, but as much as he did the right thing, at the end of the day Wayne committed a war crime" he said.

"But he didn't have a choice"

"You and I know that, but other people will see it differently" Kaiden said. "And that's not even the worse part"

"How could it be any worse?"

"It's Wayne and the batarians, which means Mindoir and Torfan will come up at his trial…" he said. "And you know how he feels about both of those events"

"Keelah, but surely he has some friends, can't Anderson help?"

"No he can't, as much as Anderson would like to, he can't help, he's a councilor" Kaiden explained. "It would only complicate things"

"But…" The door opened and Shepherd came in, instantly putting an end to the conversation. His face didn't look happy at all, but grim…"Wayne? Something wrong?"

"It's time…" Shepherd said. Tali and Kaiden nodded. They went up to the CIC where it was deadly silent, like there was funeral, even Joker wasn't cracking any jokes today. Shepherd and the team went to the cockpit, as the Normandy jumped out of the relay and into the Sol relay.

Kaiden sighed. "Looks like it's time for us to face the music" he said.

"No, it will be just me, no one will get involved with my crime" Shepherd said.

"It's not your fault, Wayne, you only did it to save us" Tali said softly.

"And may have caused things to get worse" he said.

"Wayne, it was a bad situation no one is blaming you" Kaiden said.

"Maybe…" Shepherd then looked at Tali "are you sure about this, Rookie?"

Tali nodded. "Yes, I want to do this, we all do. You've been there for us, it's only right we are there for you too."

Shepherd looked back as the Normandy crew got up and saluted. His friends, his family would not abandon him; he would not face this alone. Tears ran down his cheeks as Tali hugged him. "Thank you, everyone, thank you" Shepherd choked. Shepherd smiled and kissed Tali

"I love you"

"I love you, too" The comm broke through.

"Everyone we're here" Joker said. Kaiden, Shepherd, and Tali looked out the window. Tali's eyes went wide; the human homeworld was more amazing than she thought. It was so vibrant, she had never seen a planet with so many colors. If it looked beautiful on the outside, she could only imagine what the surface was like.

"Keelah, your home world is beautiful…" she said in awe. Joker began inputting descent vectors and thrust output. Shifting the angle of descent, the Normandy entered the outer atmosphere. Plasma traces coursed over the hull, surrounding the ship in a nimbus of white fire. Entering the lower atmosphere, the nimbus dissipated and finally flickered out of existence. Plummeting thousands of feet in seconds, Joker angled the Normandy into a dive and powered up the mass-reduction systems, allowing the Normandy atmospheric flight. Breaking through the clouds of the troposphere, the deep blue of the Pacific Ocean stretched out beneath the ship towards the horizon.

"Rookie, welcome to Earth" Approaching 1500 feet above the water, Joker righted the Normandy, decreasing the angle and finally leveling the ship. The Normandy cast a great shadow over the deep blue water; from this elevation, the naked eye could make out the calm surface of the ocean. From the bridge, Tali saw something rise from the water and expel a great spout of water.

"Keelah, what are those?"

"Whales, the gentle giants of the deep…" Kaiden said. "Looks like they're in the middle of their migration" Shepherd smiled as he saw the animals swimming through the water gracefully, for a second it made him forget what was coming up. A com broke through.

"This Alliance control, we don't recognize your ship, identify yourself"

"This is the SR-2 Normandy and her crew, we have Commander Wayne Allen Shepherd on board, we request to land" Joker said.

"Verifying stand by…"

"I see they haven't gotten any friendlier" Kaiden said.

"Yeah friendly like sandpaper to the ass, maybe"

"Confirmed, SR-2 Normandy, you are to meet with the Alliance Committee in Toronto, any delay will be seen as an act of treason"

"Roger that"

"Toronto, my hometown" Kaiden said. Shepherd looked at him.

"Wait I thought you were born in Singapore"

"I was, but I moved to Toronto when I was five"

"I'm sorry, but Toronto, Singapore?" Tali asked.

"We'll explain later" The Normandy flew over the expansive Pacific Ocean, and all too soon the great skyscrapers of a city were visible on the horizon. In the middle of the city was a huge building with the Alliance insignia on it, Joker pulled the ship higher and began docking procedures for entering the hanger. As the ship landed, the rest of the ground team came up to the CIC.

Shepherd sighed. "Time to put on my game face" The team headed for the airlock and it opened. In front of them was a rather large human, he had a scar across his face and his hair was styled into a mohawk . He gave a sharp salute.

"Commander Shepherd, Lt. James Vega" he said. Shepherd blinked, he was half expecting a firing squad, not one person meeting him. Lia then spoke up.

"Jimmy?" she said.

The man's eyes went wide. "Lola?"

Shepherd blinked. "Wait, you two know each other?"

Lia pressed her fingers together and blushed. "We kinda went on a date back on Illium"

The team blinked. "WHAT?!"

_**What? Lia has a boyfriend, and it looks like the Illusive Man is up to his old tricks, and how is Shepherd going to get out of this? :)**_


	7. Chapter 7: Reunion

**Chapter 7: Reunion**

_**Illusive Man**_

The Illusive Man continued his conversation with Henry Lawson, though he was quite difficult to talk to. He was analyzing every angle looking for deceit in the Cerberus leader words, now the Illusive Man knew where Miranda got it from. Henry Lawson crossed his arms. "Why should I help you? If I remember correctly, you got in my way months ago"

Illusive Man took a sip of wine. "Ah yes Orianna, it was nothing personal, just me honoring my promises, but now that Miranda is no longer with us, I don't have to honor that promise"

"So what do you want?" he asked.

"You are a genius when it comes to genetic manipulation, case in point your daughter"

Henry just scoffed. "Miranda was a failure, just like the dolls before her"

"To you maybe, but back when she was working with Cerberus, she was one of my best operatives" Illusive Man said. "Now do we have a deal?"

"Wait, if I help you, I want something return"

"Name it…"

Henry gave a cruel smirk. "I want my dear daughter to suffer for her defiance, tell me the location of Orianna"

"Done" Illusive Man said. "Now, Mr. Lawson, how much do you know about Husks?"

_**The Normandy crew-Toronto, Canada (Earth)**_

Shepherd and team were walking with James to Shepherd's holding room. The personnel cleared the way as the team were walking; some had looks of awe from seeing the great Shepherd, while some were looking at the members of Shepherd's strange crew. However the team were more interested in the fact Shepherd's guard dated Lia. "Wait, you went on a date with this guy? When did this happen?" Kasumi said.

Lia blushed. "Well…"

_Months ago_

_"Eight hundred credits" the man said._

_Lia blinked. "Eight hundred? But the tag said three hundred"_

_"Nine hundred"_

_"What? That's not fair!"_

_"Keep mouthing back and I'll make it even higher." The man said._

_"You bosh'tet racist!"_

_"Hey if you don't like it, then leave suit rat" Just then someone spoke up._

_"Hey, is there a problem here?" A man said. Lia looked back and saw a gigantic human. His skin was dark and his face had scars, he had on a dark green shirt that showed off his muscles quite nicely._

_"This quarian is causing a disturbance in my store"_

_"You're a lying, all I want to do is buy this device and this bosh'tet ups the price"_

_"How much did it cost?" the large human asked._

_"The device was for three hundred and he wants it for nine hundred" Lia said._

_The large man frowned. "Is that true?"_

_"The suit-rat is lucky I'm even selling to her." The clerk scoffed. Lia fought back the urge wring his neck, instead the large man did it for her._

_"Let me tell you how this is going to go, pendejo" He said cracking his knuckles. "You sell this girl the device at a fair price and I won't break your legs"_

_The clerk gulped. "Now, now there's no need for violence, I'm sure we can work this out"_

_The huge human gave a smirk. "Try me"_

_"F-fine, that will be one seventy" he said nervously. "Now get out"_

_After getting her device, she and the big man left much to the relief of the clerk. "You didn't have to do that"_

_"That puta had it coming, I hate assholes, especially if they're assholes to women" He snorted. "Besides it was fun"_

_Lia blushed. "Well thank you, I should go…you know meet up with some friends" she stammered._

_The big man stopped her "Are you doing anything?"_

_"N-no, W-why?"_

_"Would like to go for drinks?" He asked with a smile. Lia raised a brow._

_"Do you always pick up random strangers?" she asked._

_The man smiled. "Only if they're cute" Lia blushed. The big human held out his hand. "The name's Jimmy"_

_Lia shook his hand. "Lia"_

"After that we went dancing, and after the date he gave me his omni-tool code" she explained. "We've been talking ever since up until we went through the Omega-4 relay"

Kasumi smirked. "So that's why were so happy that night"

Lia and James blushed. "I-It's not like that….h-he helped me…and well…" she stammered.

"Y-yeah, just helping a cute girl out, t-that's all" he stuttered

Kasumi raised a brow at that. "Oh, Lia is cute, huh?" James blushed even harder.

Kaiden shook his head. "Alright that's enough of that, Kasumi" he said. "James, I've noticed you're the only one to meet us, shouldn't there be more people?"

"Yeah, now that I've noticed it does seem strange, are there anyone assigned to watch me other than you?" Shepherd asked.

"Nope, just me" James replied.

"James, who assigned you?" Kaiden asked.

"Admiral Anderson" he said.

"Anderson?" Shepherd asked. "Wait, Admiral? Anderson's with the council"

James sighed and explained Anderson was booted off the Council for his defense of Shepherd, the Councilors went behind Anderson's back and made a deal with parliament to get a successor and chose Anderson's assistant, Udina. The team looked on in dread, Udina was the absolutely last person they wanted, unlike Anderson, Udina never believed Shepherd's findings about the reaper. If the reapers did come now, it would be a slaughter.

"Fuck…"

"This will make preparing much more difficult" Miranda said. "Troubling…"

James looked at her. "Prepare? Prepare for what?"

"Don't worry about it" Shepherd said. The group turned the corner.

"Okay, here's your room" Shepherd blinked when he looked at the room. No bars, no poorly made make shift bed, it had modest bedding, a bathroom, a TV, and a small laptop for basic extranet browsing. It was nice, in fact much nicer than the man who disgraced the Alliance deserved.

"You sure this is my room? I thought this was a holding cell, not a suite"

"Anderson pulled some strings, and got you this" James said. "If you don't mind, I would like to speak with Lia"

"Um sure, but are you sure you want to leave me here alone?" Shepherd asked. "I could just leave"

"You could but you won't, Anderson told me you were an upstanding kind of guy" he said.

"Any ground rules I should follow?"

"You can go anywhere you want in the building as long you as have me as an escort, your friends can you at any time up until curfew and of course no weapons, other than those rules you're free to do as you please" James said.

"Uh, thanks…" James nodded and left with Lia. Shepherd sat on the bed, not as good as the bed on the Normandy, but he couldn't complain, it could have been much worse. Miranda looked down the hallway looking at James and Lia. "Miranda, what's wrong?"

"Do you think we can trust him?" Miranda asked.

"If he was picked by Anderson, then I think we can trust him" Kaiden said.

"Plus he helped Lia, which makes him okay in my book" Kasumi said. She then smirked. "Plus she really seems to like the guy…" Tali giggled.

_**Outside**_

James and Lia walked outside to the courthouse, the human and the Quarian didn't say anything and the silence was becoming awkward for the two of them. James knew she was expecting some answers, and was going to explain himself however Lia decided to speak up.

"I…I missed you, Jimmy" She said with a blush.

"I missed you too, Lola"

"Then why didn't you call? I was worried that you died in some ditch somewhere" James lowered his head; her statement had more truth than she thought. The memories of Fehl Prime flashed into his head, until Lia shook him and brought him back to reality. James looked at her and she had a concerned look on her face. "Jimmy?"

"Sorry… just some bad memories…."James said solemnly. "I'm sorry, but I don't want to talk about it, not now…" he said. Lia looked at his features, it was much more rough since she seen him last, he wasn't the happy-go-lucky guy that she met on Illium. Something happened to him, something traumatic, and as curious as she was, she wouldn't pry. He could tell her when he was ready.

"Okay…" It got silent again until James spoke up.

"So you're a member of Commander Shepherd's crew, that's badass" James said. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Lia crossed her arms. "You never asked" she said. "Besides I doubt you would believe I was traveling with the great Commander Shepherd"

James chuckled. "Heh, good point"

Lia lowered her head. "Do you think Shepherd will get out of this? I asked the others but they keep telling me not worry"

James sighed. "To tell you the truth, I don't really know, but to destroy a mass relay, you have to be either batshit crazy or desperate, since he don't seem like the crazy type, I'm going to say desperate, I don't blame him we've all been in that kind of situation at some point or another"

Lia turned away. "I know what you mean"

James looked at her and frowned.. "Something happened?"

"It was back on the Normandy…these aliens called the Collectors invaded the ship, I had to ignore a lot of my friends to rescue our pilot" Lia shook her head. "It was one of the scariest moments I've ever faced…something I never want to face again" James nodded, even someone as sweet as Lia couldn't escape the Collectors, he was glad that they were gone.

"Well you got through it and became stronger for it, you should be proud, not a lot of people can say that… " James said. James looked at his time, he needed to get back to Shepherd, and he walked to the building. "We should probably get back" Lia nodded and they walked back to Shepherd's room.

"You know if this whole thing with Shepherd ends we should go on another date"

Lia blushed and smiled. "I would like that"

James smirked. "See ya, Lola"

_**Hagalaz**_

Back on the Shadow Broker base, Liara was hard at work looking for any leads on the reapers. Since gaining control of the network, she had repurposed a lot of the agents on searching for signs to the invasion, despite how vast the network was there was simply not enough to go on for a plan to counter the reapers. She sat back in her chair and sighed. The door behind her opened to reveal Feron, her second in command; she had told him about the reaper invasion and surprisingly took the information seriously. While the asari worked on finding the reapers, Feron was in charge of the Broker's shadier operations.

"No luck, huh?" Feron asked.

"No, the reapers are as enigmatic as they are dangerous" She said. "How's stuff on your end?"

"I got some info from one of our agents on Omega, it's about Cerberus"

That got Liara's attention, other than what happened four months ago, Cerberus had been surprisingly quiet. "What are they up to?"

"Nothing just yet, but there's has been traffic to and from the Omega-4 relay"

The asari frowned. "Wouldn't they need the Collector IFF to pass through it? I thought only the Normandy had it" she said. "Why would be they be there? Shepherd destroyed the Collector Base"

"Want to bet the Illusive Man had a copy of it? Anyway that much traffic near Omega is making Aria rather nervous, but until something happens…."

"She can't make a move, and neither can we" Liara said. She sighed, as much as she was worried about Cerberus, they couldn't risk attacking a potential ally, the war was going to be huge and they needed all the allies they could get. Although with Cerberus, she used ally very loosely. "Tell our operatives to keep an eye on them"

The drell nodded. "Got it, Liara" he said walking away.

Liara sat back in chair and frowned. "What are you up to, Illusive Man?"

_**Watch your back Miranda, daddy's coming and with the Anderson out and Udina in, what does that mean for the war preparation against the reapers?**_

_**Find out next time. As always review and comment.**_


	8. Chapter 8: Family

**Chapter 8: Family**

_**Citadel-Huerta Memorial Hospital**_

"How much longer is it going to be?" Kolyat asked pacing the room. The young drell was in the waiting room waiting for his father's results. After the mission with the Collectors Thane had told Shepherd that he was leaving the team, to be with his son, before his disease became worse. He came to the Citadel and found out that his son was now a capable C-sec officer, and that he was no longer the angry man months ago. Kolyat on the other hand was reluctant, but once he had started to listen, he started to understand the man…maybe they wouldn't have what they when he was ten, but it was something…

As Kolyat continued to pace, the door opened to reveal Thane walking out. "Kolyat" The younger drell looked back and walked over to him.

"Well?"

"It seems I have three months to live" Thane said. Kolyat blinked, he was expecting his father to not have long to live, but he wasn't expecting how calm he was about it. But why was he so calm? He was dying, he wasn't expecting the man to animated, but he could less calm about it. Thane sighed. "It's a relief…"

"What is…?"

"No responsibilities, no worries, free to fix my mistakes" Thane said. "Free to give life, not take it for once…." He looked at Kolyat, he always felt small under his father's gaze, even though he never showed it…he was intimating, but this time his gaze was peaceful almost gentle. "When I die, I want to die with no regrets, will you help me, son?" Kolyat looked shocked, Thane has never asked for help….He shook his head and got passed the shock.

"I will…"

_**Earth-Alliance Command HQ/Toronto, Canada**_

Shepherd and team were sitting around in the spectre's room, waiting for his lawyer to come. The committee members decided days ago that they wanted the mess that Shepherd brought to their doorstep gone and so Shepherd's trial was stepped up. From what they heard, the batarians were hiring a famous and tough lawyer from the Citadel, however Shepherd's lawyer was, from what they heard, was no pushover himself.

"He's late…" Garrus said.

James rubbed his head. "Sorry, this building is known as the toughest place to get into, so it's going to take a while" The door opened up and Kasumi, Tali, Kaiden, and Lia came in.

"Has he come?" Kaiden asked. Shepherd shook his head.

"How are things on the outside?" Shepherd asked. Kaiden sat down at the table and sighed as he explained it was circus outside. Every news outlet from Earth and beyond was covering the spectre's trial, some were on his side, and however there were some that just outright condemned Shepherd before the trial even started. Alliance command had to try really hard to keep the media at bay; this wanted the trial to be a private embarrassment and not a public one.

Tali sat next to Shepherd and wrapped her hands around his waist. "Are you okay, Wayne?"

Shepherd sighed. "I don't know, I suppose you can never prepare for your own trial" he said. "Now I know how you felt"

Tali rested her head on Shepherd's shoulder. "You won't be alone, we'll all be with you"

Shepherd smiled. "Thank you" The door opened and to their surprise it wasn't a man, but an older woman. She was in her forties to early fifties, thought you wouldn't tell from her looks, she had short dark hair that had several strands of grey. She wore a gray business suit, with black high-heel shoes. Shepherd couldn't keep his eyes off her, there was something familiar about her, but he couldn't quite place his hand on it.

She smiled and gave out her hand, Shepherd shook it. "I'm sorry for being late, my name is Natalia Swartz, and I will be representing you in your trial."

Shepherd's eyes went wide. "Swartz?"

Tali looked at him. "Wayne?"

"Yes why?" Natalia said.

"Would you be related to Julia Swartz?" He asked.

"Yes, Julia is my younger sister" She was the older sister of Emily's and Talitha's mother, in fact she looked like an older Talitha. "But how do you know her?"

Shepherd lowered his head. "My family lived in the same area as the Swartz's, their oldest daughter was my girlfriend" He said sadly. "I'm sorry I couldn't save any of them…"

"Shepherd….I thought I recognized your name, you're the son of Jonathan Shepherd" She said. Natalia lowered her head. "What happened on Mindoir was terrible; we've all been through a lot"

"Yes we have…" Shepherd said. "This is my crew" The team all waved at her, they all introduced themselves and then looked at the time, it was time to get to the floor.

"Wayne, we have to go, we'll see you soon" Tali said. Shepherd kissed her.

"See you soon rookie" The team all walked out, leaving Natalia and Shepherd.

"She seems nice" Natalia said.

Shepherd smiled softly. "Tali's amazing….she helped me move on…I would be loss without her"

"Emi would be happy you found someone that makes you happy" she said walking away.

"Natalia, I need to tell you something" His lawyer looked back. "Talitha is alive…"

Natalia's eyes went wide. "Tell me everything"

_**Two years ago**_

_Talitha whirled around at the sound of their footsteps and pointed the gun at Shepherd. "Stop! Stop! WH…Who are you?" She yelled. The pistol was shaking in her hand, her eyes darted back and forth between Tali and Shepherd._

_"It's me Wayne, its been a long time, Tal, you become pretty like your sister" The Commander said in a friendly tone with a smile._

_Talitha blinked her eyes. "H-how do you know me?" she asked cautiously._

_"I was your sister's b-friend on Mindoir, I'm your friend too, don't you remember?" he said._

_"I remember only fires. Smells of smoke and burning flesh... people screaming as they kill them, cage them! As they put the metal to their backs, wires in their brains, the pain...don't want the pain" she shook with fear._

_"Talitha, it's okay, they can't hurt you anymore, I'm here" Shepherd said softly._

_"I want to believe that... I didn't want to... be there anymore. In the pen... in the cages. Screaming while... while they do things to me." She shivered, wrapping her arms around her chest protectively._

_"Talitha, I'm going to take a step forward, no one is going to hurt you, I promise " The Commander said cautiously. Shepherd slowly took a step toward the girl._

_"Stay away! Don't touch me! Never again" She suddenly snapped, the gun pointing back up at him._

_"It's okay! I'm not going to hurt you Talitha" Shepherd put his hands behind his head. "My hands will be behind my head the whole time, I promise" She calmed down, and pointed the pistol at the floor._

_"See we're friends, I grew up on Mindoir too, your family and mine were friends, you played with my sister all the time, do you remember Kiyoko, my sister?"_

_Tears ran down her cheeks and she smiled a little as she nodded. "We always played hide and seek, I would always win, but she never got angry with me." She then lowered her head. "Why are we alive? Why do we live and they die?"_

_Shepherd lowered his head. "I don't know, once upon a time I wanted to join them, it was easier than dealing with the pain" he said softly. _

_Talitha dropped the gun as he spoke, her eyes went wide. "What stopped you?" she asked._

_Shepherd looked at her and smiled. "I had to put myself back together and keep going, because I wanted to show the batarians, that they can't and won't break me, and to make everyone proud."_

_"Do you think they could be proud of me too?" Shepherd nodded as he approached her. Talitha looked at him, tears still falling from her eyes. Without warning, she grabbed his waist, sobbing desperately as Shepherd held her._

_Shepherd pulled the injection-gun out of his belt. "Listen Talitha, this will make you sleep and they'll take you to a place where you can get better. Okay?" she nodded as he pulled the injection-gun towards her. Shepherd pressed it gently against her neck and pulled the trigger._

_"Will the nightmares go away?" she asked softly. Shepherd smiled and nodded. Talitha fell asleep in her arms and Shepherd carried her towards the officers with Tali close behind._

After Shepherd's story, Natalia sat down on the chair with tears running down her face as she smiled. "Thank you, Wayne, thank you; I thought I lost all of my family, but I have hope"

"She's been getting over the trauma the batarians had put her through and is with a loving family, but if you want to meet with her I got her number"

Natalia shook her head. "No, that's okay, just knowing one of my nieces' alive and safe is enough for me, Talitha deserves to be happy" Shepherd opened his omni-tool.

"Okay, but just in case, you change your mind I'm giving you her number" Shepherd said. "I think she would be happy to see you…nothing's more important than family after all"

Natalia smiled as she wiped away her tears. "That is so true" She said. "Okay, enough tears, we have a trial to get through" Shepherd nodded and the walk out of the room to face the masses.

_**Trial Room**_

Tali and the rest of the team went into the viewer's area. To the right side, were the representatives for the Hegemony, along with a salarian looking over the case reports. The jury to the side looked at them with caution, not surprising considering humanity and the batarians had a hostile relationship and one the verge of war. As the team walked to there seats, they had gotten strange looks from the other people in the room. Tali had to admit their group was strange, two Quarians, two humans, a turian, and a krogan.

"Can someone please explain why Grunt is with us?" Garrus asked.

"I'm here to make sure these pyjaks don't try anything funny with my battlemaster" Grunt said looking at the audience with a frown .

Kasumi crossed her arms. "It's a trial, not a battle to the death" she said annoyed.

Grunt snorted. "What's the difference?" he asked.

Tali glared at him. "Listen you bosh'tet Wayne is in trouble. And you will not make it worse, understand? "

Grunt grumbled. "Yes Battlemistress…." He muttered. James met up with the team.

"Jimmy, how's everything?" Lia asked.

James sighed. "It's not perfect, but they at least have a game plan"

"Let's just hope it's enough" Kaiden said. "There they are…" Shepherd and Natalia went to take their seats. Before the trial could begin, a man came up to the team.

"Are you Staff Commander Alenko?" he asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"You are to report to the committee chambers at this minute" he said.

"Did they explain why they want to see me?"

"No only that you see them ASAP" Kaiden looked at the team.

"Go on, we'll explain why you couldn't be here to Boss" Kaiden nodded and went with the man. The judge went and sat down.

"Court will now come to order, the case of Commander Wayne Allen Shepherd vs. The Batarian Hegemony will now begin."

_**The Committee Room**_

Kaiden arrived at the committee room, he was very nervous; he knew he broke the rules when he decided to help Shepherd on his mission against the Collectors. But for the committee to want to see him, made him nervous, these were people that could end the career of an admiral if they wanted to.

He went inside and saw them, the most powerful members of the Alliance military, three men and a woman. The balding dark skinned-man to the center was Henrie Mutuku, he was in charge of the committee and in charge of the funding the Alliance get from parliament, he is said to a very no nonsense type of leader. The blonde woman next to him was Alyson Shriver, she was in charge of coordinating the different groups within the Alliance, however it is said that she likes to play favorites which makes her unpopular with certain groups. To the next of her was a man with grey hair and glasses, Julian Alexandros he was the oldest member of the committee and in charge of research and recommendation, he was the that charted out the plans for the committee, though since he was the lowest ranking member he tend to be ignore by the rest of the members. And finally was the man with slick black hair, John Tui, he was in charge of public relations for the Alliance, and a man gifted with a silver tongue, a he can lie out of everything.

"Staff Commander Kaiden Alexander Alenko, step forward" Mutuku said. Kaiden stepped forward and spoke up.

"Yes?"

"We are here to discuss your future within the Alliance Navy"

"With all due respect, if it's about me leaving my post to help Commander Shepherd, I don't regret it" Kaiden said defiantly.

"No it is not about that, although we are not happy about you disobeying your orders"

"It is about the future of the Alliance, but more importantly the future of humanities' future position"

Kaiden frowned at that, they sounded too close to the Illusive Man for his comfort. "Meaning?"

"With Commander Shepherd's unfortunate situation, we will need someone to represent humanities interests"

"W-what do you mean?"

"Perhaps it is better for the councilor Udina to explain" An image of Udina appeared.

"Councilor, what is this about?" Kaiden said.

"I discussed your history with council, and they were very impressed with your skills, and would like to make you the second human spectre"

Kaiden's eyes went wide. "W-what?"

"Congratulations Mr. Alenko you now a member of the élite"

_**Kaiden, the second human spectre? And what does this means for Shepherd and his trial?**_

_**Find out Next time. As always review and comment.**_


	9. Chapter 9: Trial

**Chapter 9: Trial**

Kaiden had to wait for the shock to wear off, before speaking again. He was just chosen to be the second human spectre, with this he could with the coming war. But then he thought about Shepherd, as good as he was, he felt that he wasn't spectre material, Shepherd was there with he was say go for it. Being a spectre would be an honor, but it was an honor he was not sure he was ready for.

"I'm honored but I can't take it, I feel that I'm not ready" Kaiden said. The committee looked at each other.

"Why not? Explain" Tui said.

"I'm flattered that you consider me spectre material, but my skills don't come close to W…Commander Shepherd"

"Nonsense, we saw you in action when Saren attacked the citadel, you helped save the council" Udina said.

"Only because I had a good leader, without Shepherd I don't know if we could have stopped him on time" Kaiden said.

"We understand, but why don't you give it some thought and come back" Shriver said.

"Understood, thank you for your understanding" Kaiden said walking away, leaving only the committee and Udina.

"I told you it would not work, Udina" Alexandros said. "Alenko is too loyal to Shepherd"

Udina sighed and rubbed his face. "Yes…as much of a discipline case Shepherd is, he knows how to inspire loyalty"

"So what now? As long as Shepherd is considered the face of humanity and the Alliance, war with batarians is guaranteed" Tui said.

"Then we wait, we have the batarians report from the council, Shepherd can't possibly escape this"

"Be careful Udina, that's what they said about Torfan, and look what happened he became the first human spectre" Mutuku said bluntly.

"Unfortunately I remember, hopefully Alenko will wise up or he will fall with his precious leader" he said as his image faded.

_**The Trial Floor**_

Kaiden met back with the team, still thinking about the offer, he shook his head he needed to talk to Shepherd. When he got back the room was silent with someone talking, as he got close he saw it was the salarian that the Hegemony hired for their side. He looked at the jury, he couldn't tell what they were thinking, but chances are they disagreed with batraian's side. "How's Wayne?"

"Natalia and Boss are holding their own, but that lawyer the Hegemony hired is no slacker" Garrus said.

Shh! Wayne's side is up" Lia said. As the salarian got up, Natalia got up and faced the jury. They could tell she was experienced from the way she looked at them, no hesitation, good first start, but now they needed to know if she give a good argument in Shepherd's case. She cleared her throat.

"My opponent keeps saying my client is a terrorist" she started. "But your honor, look at my client's record, he has a proven track record of saving lives, remember what he did two years ago on…" The salarian stood up.

"Objection! His record has nothing to do with the travesty at Bahak!"

Natalia crossed her arms. "A travesty you keep perpetuating was the work of the Alliance and the Commander"

"The Hegemony had reports of a female human, within the system; the communication was deciphered as Alliance" the salarian said. "And after that, Shepherd's ship, the Normandy was seen exiting the system short before the Bahak system was destroyed"

"And how do we know that was Alliance and not them faking it, we all knew the attack on Elysium happened because clients faked an Alliance distress!"

The salarian narrowed his eyes. "That had nothing to do with my clients! They were criminals of the Hegemony" The team was impressed with Natalia's style, she riles up the persecution, getting them angry and the jury would see how unlikable they were. Before the salarian could say anything else, the gavel banged loudly.

"Order! We will take a thirty minute recess" the judge said. "Court is suspended until then" The crowds and jurors scattered for their break, some when to get some lunch, others were talking about the trial, and some were just wondering until the judge called them back in. Tali and team met with Shepherd, the spectre didn't seem all to phased by the trial, but they knew that this was only the beginning. The salarian was relentless, and they knew it wouldn't be long before he start to bring up his past and when that happens that's when the knives will come out.

Tali hugged Shepherd. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine" A voice spoke up.

"You sure? They were throwing some heat towards you way" The team looked back, it was Anderson. He was wearing a new admiral uniform instead of the business suit from when he was on the Council. Shepherd, Kaiden, and James all gave him a salute, Anderson raised his hand and they went at ease.

"Sir, when did you get here?" Shepherd asked.

"A few moments ago, I couldn't miss your trial" he said.

Shepherd lowered his head. "I'm sorry about what the council did…"

"Don't be, in fact I welcomed it, hearing those fools argue was grinding on my nerves anyway" Anderson said. "I'm just upset Udina was the one to take my place"

"Sir, I know you haven't seen him in so long, but we need to discuss the trial" Natalia said.

Anderson nodded. "I understand I need to talk someone anyway" he said. "I hope to talk to you soon"

"Me too, sir" Shepherd and the others walked away. Anderson looked up and saw Hackett on the balcony looking over the crowds. He went upstairs to meet with him.

_**During recess-Balcony**_

Hackett was looking at the crowds as they dispersed. He sighed, the Admiral was worried about the how well Shepherd's defense would be holding up, but it looked like they were doing fine. He hated that Shepherd had to take the fall, but it was good for the Alliance, he could only pray that his plan worked out. "So far so good…"

He then caught Anderson at the corner of his eye, shortly before leaving for Omega; Anderson had given Hackett a call on rejoining the Alliance. The high command was quick to get him in, and even gave him the rank of Admiral, unlike the committee high command was a huge supporter if Shepherd and Hackett had hope the admirals could sway things. He hated politics, most soldiers like him did, but in order help Shepherd, he was willing to get his hands dirty. "David" Anderson came and gave him a big punch to the face.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Anderson asked angrily. "I read the reports, what happened was an Alliance project, and yet Shepherd is getting the blame!"

Hackett rubbed his cheek. "I know, but I had to do it, if the galaxy got wind of Project Arrival, humanity could be indicted, meaning you would have kicked off with no replacement"

"And so you called Shepherd to clean up the mess, if it wasn't for the fact that it's the batarians, you could have ruined Shepherd's reputation"

"Yes and no"

"Stop playing games Steven, what the hell are you talking about?"

"It wasn't just to clean up our mess, the project had something to do with his own mission, a mission so important that he worked with terrorists"

"The reapers…"

Hackett nodded. "I read the mission report on the Normandy, Shepherd gave us time to prepare for the war, the reapers were planning on using Bahak's mass relay as back door into our galaxy" he said. "If it wasn't for Shepherd, we would be dying like dogs now"

"Okay, I get it, but I don't like using a friend as a scapegoat because of our mistakes" Anderson said.

"I know old friend neither do I…" The com broke through. A woman appeared. "What is it?"

"Sir, one of our scientists has found something on Mars, something …" she said. "It's Prothean"

Hackett and Anderson looked at each other/ "Prothean? What is it?"

"They don't know, it's unlike anything we have seen before, but they said it is a huge discovery"

"I'll be there, make preparation"

"Sir!" The image faded.

"Sounds important, what do you think it is?" Anderson asked.

"Hopefully, a new resource" Hackett said getting his coat. "I know he's like a son to you, but now he's the best chance we got"

"I know, that doesn't mean I have to like it"

Hackett nodded and walked away. "By the way, you still hit like a sissy" he said with a smirk. Anderson shook his head went to meet Shepherd.

_**Shepherd's room-during recess**_

"Wow, they asked you to be a spectre?" Kasumi asked. After discussing their plan for round two, Kaiden had told them about Udina's offer. The team was surprised, but they knew Kaiden was the best man for the job, even if Kaiden didn't believe it himself.

"Yeah, they did, but I don't know if I'm ready for it" Kaiden said.

"You kidding me, I've seen you in action Kaiden, trust me you're Spectre material" Shepherd said.

"You think I could do it?"

"Of course, you've yourself to be a capable leader, remember when I got poisoned by that Thorian creeper?"

"Not to mention, when helped me lead the team on the collector base, Boss is right you should do it" Garrus said. Kaiden looked around and they all gave him approving nods.

"Okay, since you think I can, I'll walk up and tell them" The door opened and Anderson walked through.

"What's up? I could hear you guys from down the hall" he said.

"Anderson, guess what? Kaiden was asked to join the spectres" James said. "Udina recommended him"

Anderson blinked. "Really?" Shepherd looked at him. "Congrats son, couldn't have happened to a better man"

Kaiden saluted. "Thank you sir"

"Guys, why don't you go and take your seats, I'll see you later"

"Okay Wayne" Tali and the others walked out, leaving Shepherd and Anderson.

"I take it you're not happy about this sir" Shepherd said.

"Kaiden is a hell of a soldier, the spectres would be lucky to have him" Anderson said.

"But?"

"I know Udina, hell worked with him; he doesn't do anything out of the goodness of his heart" he said. "There's always a catch with him"

The spectre frowned. "So what, we tell Kaiden to not take the offer because Udina may have some hidden plan" Shepherd said.

Anderson shook his head. "No, at the end of the day Kaiden is a good choice for the spectres, but tell him to watch his back" he said. "Politician isn't a Politician without a knife"

_**Mars-Prothean Archives**_

Mars, humanities first attempt at space colonization, it was during the building process that they found the Archives. It was then when humanity found out there was life on other planets, but more importantly it was the start of a new golden age for Humanity. They unlocked the secrets of the Archives, found secrets that jump-started their technology by two-hundred years which lead to the discovery of the Sol relay, the mass relay not far from Pluto. And from there spread to other systems, and the rest they say is history, nowadays the Alliance have restricted immigration to the planet to Alliance personal and the Archives have become the new Area 51. The shuttle landed inside the hanger, Hackett came out and met with the scientists that made a huge discovery. "Ah, admiral glad you made it"

They walked throughout the base, to the location of the main archives; many of the scientists were scrambling to unveil as much about their discovery as they could. "So how much of it have you recovered?" Hackett asked.

"Ten to twenty percent…it's so big that it's going to take a while for it to be fully revealed"

"We've been on this rock for decades, how are we just now finding it?"

"The archives have extremely advance security; some of us are still trying to access the data to this day"

"So what can you tell me about it?"

The scientist sighed. "Not much, all I can tell you is that it's Prothean, huge, powerful, something that big would need a huge power source" she said.

"A weapon of mass destruction?"

"Don't know, we barely know anything about prothean technology as it is, this is a brand new can of worms"

A powerful prothean device that no one could understand, there only one person for the job… "Then we'll need some help, call Dr. Liara T'Soni, she's an expert on everything prothean" Hackett said.

"Are you sure that's wise to bring in outside help sir?" the scientist asked.

"Dr. T'Soni is an old friend of Commander Shepherd, she helped him with his mission with Saren, and we can trust her"

_**Hagalaz**_

Liara was taking a nap, exhausted from searching for the reapers. Just then her information drone appeared in front of her, or rather the old broker's drone. It was created to assist the broker with a new data so they wouldn't get overwhelmed, it was god-send. She called the drone Glyph, since just calling information drone was simply too boring.

"What is it, Glyph?" she asked tiredly.

"You have a message incoming"

"From who?"

"Admiral Steven Hackett, of the Alliance" Liara sat up and the image appeared.

"Admiral, this is unexpected" she said. "How is Shepherd?"

"He's doing fine; so far the trial is going his way"

"He deserves better…"

"I know, but this not about Shepherd, this about the reapers" Hackett said.

"Did you find anything on them?"

Hackett shook his head. "No, but we did find something that could turn the tides"

Liara eyes went wide. "What?"

"Uploading data to your omni-tool" Liara took one look and fell back in her bed; this was something she had never seen before. Such a thing could help turn the tides in the upcoming war.

"Goddess, what is this? Where did you find this?"

"We hope you can tell us, when can you leave?" Hackett asked.

"I can leave now" Hackett nodded and his image faded. "Feron, I will be leaving for a while, you are in charge until I get back"

"Liara, what's going on?" he asked.

"Hope, we found hope"

_**What is this hope Liara is talking about? What other plans does the committee and Udina have for Shepherd and will this affect his trial?**_

_**Find out next time. As always Review and Comment.**_


	10. Chapter 10: Shadows

**Chapter 10: Shadows**

_**Omega**_

Aria was on her throne looking out at her domain, she was restless, more than she has ever been. Cerberus' active traffic near her Omega was making her nervous, they hadn't made a move, but there was no such thing as overly cautious when it came to Cerberus, she knew that went her daughter died…

_**Four months ago**_

_Aria's men scrambled franticly searching for Liselle, when the young asari hadn't returned to Aria's apartment; the empress knew something was wrong. So she summoned everyone from her gang to find her daughter, and she didn't care what they had to do. Aria was usually passive and cool most of the time, but there was only a few ways to rile her up, first was to ask about her past, the second was challenging her authority, and the last was messing with her daughter. Her men searched high and low on the station, some bribed and some simply beat people for the information. A turian met with a batarian._

"_You find her?"_

"_No, shit this is bad, Aria's going to be pissed if we don't find Liselle" the batarian said. "I know that human had something to with this…"_

_The turian sighed. "Not this again…Grayson has nothing to do with this" he said. "Just because you have problems with humans…" Then something caught his eye and went to investigate._

_The batarian scoffed. "Grayson's a former Cerberus operative, they're known for their hatred of us, no one changes that much…." He looked around and saw the turian searching for something in the alley, he went in and him standing over something with a disturbed look on his face. The batarian frowned. "What the hell…?"_

"_Call Aria, tell her she needs to see this…."Moments later, Aria came to the duo's location._

"_Well? You said you found my daughter…" Aria said._

"_Yeah, but you're not going to like it…" the turian said. Aria pushed past him and her blood went cold, they had found Liselle but she was mutilated beyond recognition. She was stripped naked as her assailant beat her and carved her up with a blade. Then her body was strung up for someone to find, this was a message, a declaration of war. The turian came up to Aria, holding out something. "This was what she holding, when we found her…" Aria took it into her hand and frowned, it was the gold insignia of Cerberus…Cerberus had killed her beloved daughter._

_Aria tightened her grip on the item. "Leave me, tell the others to be on high alert, anything Cerberus I want killed on sight" she said coldly. "They fucked with the wrong bitch…" The turian and batarian nodded and walked away, leaving her with her dead daughter, she lowered her daughter to the ground and closed her eyes. "I will avenge you…"_

_**Now**_

She glowed blue and growled as she thought about it; her thoughts were then broken when of her men walked up behind her. "Talk to me"

"Nothing, Cerberus is just going back and forth through the Omega-4 relay, same as a week ago" Grizz said. It was the same news as before for the last a couple of months since Liselle's death, though the empress didn't believe they had just packed up and left, they were up to something.

"Keep watching them" Aria said.

"Got it" Grizz walked away and Garka went to see Aria.

"What is it?"

"We got reports of a new gang on Omega, they call themselves the Shadows, and they just declared war on the Blue suns, Eclipse, and the Blood Pack"

Aria chuckled lightly, a new gang every week tries to make themselves the top dog, and are usually erased by the week is over by the more established gangs. It was that stupid overconfidence that gets that new gang killed, but that doesn't stop some people. "Ambitious, I hope they brought plenty of body bags"

Garka rubbed his head. "Uh that's the thing, they're actually holding their own, and some witnesses even say they may win"

The asari looked back. "Where did this gang come from?"

"From the Traverse, from what I hear, an all human gang" the batarian said. "They are very xenophobic; they kill the alien members, but leave the human members alive"

"Which means the Blood Pack is taking the brunt of the Shadows attack, they're a vorcha and krogan group" she said. "Keep an eye on them"

"Right"

_**Mars**_

Liara's shuttle made it to the Alliance base on Mars; she had spent the last couple of nights going over the data from Hackett, but had more questions than answers. In all of her years of researching the protheans, there was nothing like the data that Hackett forwarded, not even the VI on Illos said nothing about it, could it be that more of the protheans had survived than she had thought. For the first time in a long time, the fire was back, she couldn't wait to dig into their finds. The door opened, to reveal the older human.

Hackett extended a hand. "Dr. T'Soni, welcome to Mars"

Liara shook his hand. "Thank you admiral, so how is the data mine going?" she asked.

"We're making good process, but considering how big it is, it's going pretty slow"

Liara chuckled. "Come now, it can't be that…big…" The asari's jaw dropped, the Archives in question were big, but that was an understatement, it was bigger than the Archives on Thessia, Sur'kesh, and Palaven put together. The fact the humans discover ten percent of it was nothing short of amazing.

"Dr. T'Soni, meet Project Vulcan"

"Goddess, what could you make of it?" Liara asked in awe.

"We were hoping you could tell us, we found some words and phrases that we don't recognize" One of the scientists said. Liara looked to her side and saw a woman, she was beautiful, most human females were due to how close they looked to the asari, but she was so beautiful, it was almost unnatural. She wore a white and blue skin-tight, alliance uniform, which was eerily similar to Miranda Lawson's uniform, she shook her head, it was probably coincidence. She had short black hair and fair skin.

"Dr. T'Soni this is Dr. Eva Core, she helped excavate the object" Hackett said. She smiled and held out her hand, the asari looked her stange, something was off about her but she couldn't put her finger on it.

"Don't worry I won't bite" Dr. Eva joked.

Liara shook it, it felt almost cold, but then again asari had a slightly higher body temperature than humans, so any one of them could feel that way to her. Her grip was also strong, she had heard in human culture that a strong handshake makes a strong impression, but her grip almost felt crushing. After she released it, she shook her wrist slightly.

"Nice to meet you, now what do you mean by words?" she asked. Dr. Eva pointed to the terminal.

"We've tried for weeks to find out what it means, with no luck, hopefully you can find out" she said.

Liara came close to the object and looked at the language. A lot of the words she didn't understand, but one word stuck out to her… "I recognize it; it means...weapon"

Hackett and Dr. Eva looked at each other. "So it is weapon, what else can you find out about it?"

"Not much, but luckily have all my old research with me" Liara said.

Hackett nodded. "Then get to work" Dr. Eva and Liara nodded.

_**Omega**_

"Mercy, please….merc-"A shot rang in the air as a Blue Sun turian fell dead silent. Surrounding the dead corpse, were men and women in black. They were the Shadows, on the outside they were a pro human gang from the Traverse, but on the inside…

"Progress report…"

"Fifty-two percent of the Blue Suns territory has been controlled, seventy-four percent of the Blood Packs territory has been controlled" one of the shadows said.

"And Eclipse?"

"So far they're the only ones giving us trouble; we've only taken control of thirty-two percent of their territory"

"No matter, eventually Omega will be ours soon" the man said.

"And if Aria's people interfere?"

The man gave a cruel smirk. "Then we proceed with plan B" he said. "Until then, continue with what you are doing"

The men in black saluted. "Yes sir"

_**Blue Suns base-Roan district **_

Back at the Blue Suns base, the recent leader of the blue suns Darner Vosque was not happy with the new development. Darner Vasque, was the former second-in-command of former founder and leader of the Suns, Vido Santiago, due to his ambitious personality he was quickly demoted when he was seen as a threat to Santiago's leadership. However after Santiago's death at the hands of Zaeed Massani, Vasque quickly rose through the ranks, mostly due to killing successor after successor until he became the new leader of the Suns. However, it seems his reign has ran into a problem, some weeks ago a gang calling themselves the Shadow challenged the big three on Omega, so Vasque sent out a few men to teach them respect, but they ended up dead. The same thing had happened to the other gangs, and it just escalated from there….

"What the fuck is going on?! How hard is it to take down some upstart gang?!" He asked angrily.

"B-but boss, these guys fight like elite commandos than some gang from a backwater colony"

"I don't care! No humiliates me and gets away with it!" Vosque said. A turian ran in.

"Boss!"

"The fuck you want?"

"We got reports on the ground, another ten percent of our territory have been taken by the Shadows" Vasque eyes went wide, who were these people? Every hour, he was getting news of their territory getting taken, but not in the two percent's or three, but in tens. It was hard to keep control of one percent of an area much less take it.

"What about the other groups?""

"Eclipse are so far holding their own, but the Blood Pack have gotten it the worse, an eight-five percent casualty rate, it won't be long before all the Blood Pack's territory is under the Shadows control"

"Shit!" another member came in. "What is it now?"

"Eclipse are losing ground, they just lost another thirty percent of their territory"

"Already?! What hell are these people?"

"Boss, what do we do?" one of them asked. "We're losing territory faster than we can keep it"

"Shit, we need that bitch's help"

_**Afterlife**_

Vosque went to see Aria and saw the leaders of Eclipse and the Blood Pack; apparently they had the same idea.

"Vosque, I thought the stench in this hellhole was worse" the asari said. She was purple with dark marks on her skin; she wore Eclipse heavy armor. Jona Sederis, founder of the Eclipse, and its current leader, to her enemies however she is known as the 'Black Rose' because she was as dangerous as she was beautiful, and twice as crazy. She once challenged Aria T'Loak for the leadership of Omega centuries ago, and was swiftly defeated.

"Sederis what a surprise, I would have thought Sayn killed you and dumped your body somewhere, too bad" he said. He looked at the Vorcha leader, he wore red light armor with a huge tanker on his back, to his side was a flamethrower. "And the worm's here too, shouldn't you be feeding on your men's corpses by now?"

The vorcha growled and pointed his flamethrower at Vosque. "Maybe Kreete should feed on human's face" Kreete, the only Vorcha leader in the Blood Pack's history, before Garm died, the krogan was so impressed by the Vorcha's bloodlust that he was named his second-in-command. After he took control, he was quickly counted as one of the Blood Pack's most violent leaders, doing things that disgusted even his fellow Vorcha.

Sederis laughed. "I would like to see that, it would be an improvement"

Vosque held his gun out. "Try it maw-bait, I would love to see how fast you can grow back a head" A voice spoke up.

"If you're going to kill each other, I would appreciate you doing it outside; bloodstains are a bitch to clean-up" The leaders instantly stopped fighting as they saw Aria walk upstairs and sat on her couch.

"Now let's get to business, shall we?"

_**Elbrus**_

A man with slicked back hair walked through the ship, and knocked on the door.

"Come in" The man appeared in the room and saluted. "Progress Report…"

"The Shadows have done their job exceptionally, all three leaders of the merc groups have come running to Aria, just as you planned"

"And the captured humans?"

The man gave a cruel smirk. "All sent to the facility for the super-soldier program" he said. "We also found some interesting schematics, when we took control of one of the Eclipse's territory, a plan for a manned mech, it could be useful"

"Send it to our R &D division" he said. "Launch the Adjutants, it is time"

"Of course, General, for the glory of humanity"

"And for the glory of Cerberus"

_**Omega**_

"You want what?!" Sideris asked. "No way in hell!"

"I can't believe that I'm agreeing with the bitch, but that's the last thing we want" Aria sat back on her throne, smirking.

"If I remember correctly, you came to me for help, as you humans would say 'beggars can't be choosers'" she said. "You want my help, you pledge your loyalty to me"

"You bitch!"

"Ah! That's queen bitch to you!" Her comm then beeped. "What is it?" Sounds of battle could be heard.

"Aria, we need back…up…we're being attack….by…" The comm closed and another opened.

"Miss Aria T'Loak, a pleasure to talk to you"

Aria frowned. "Who the fuck is you?"

"Ah apologies, my name is General Oleg Petrovsky of Cerberus" he said.

"And we are here for our station"

_**Shit has just got real! What are these Adjutants? And how will it Omega? The empress of Omega springs into action!**_

_**Find out Next time! As always, Review and Comment.**_


	11. Chapter 11: Assault

**Chapter 11: Assault **

_**Afterlife (Omega)**_

Sirens started to sound as Omega erupted into chaos, on her throne the Empress of Omega was face to face with the Cerberus general. Aria cursed herself for taking her eyes off Cerberus, she should have expected the Shadows were working for Cerberus, but she had written them off as a simple upstart gang. The asari glowed blue at seeing her hated enemy, but the dark-haired human didn't look intimidated, instead he sat back in his chair with a smug look on his face.

"Cerberus…!" She hissed.

Petrovsky gave a cruel smirk. "Ah, so you have heard of us? I'm flattered"

"Don't be! I still haven't forgotten what you bastards did!"

"Yes, Liselle T'Loak, your daughter as unfortunate as that was to have to kill her, it was not personal" he said. "She was just at wrong place at the wrong time"

Aria growled at his condescending remark. "When you slit my daughter's throat, you made it personal" she angrily. "And now, you attack my station, you just declared war on the wrong bitch!"

Petrovsky chuckled smugly. "Your famed skills are impressive, but our Adjutants are unlike anything you have ever faced" he said. "I suggest you give up, I would rather not have any more bloodshed than needed?"

This time it was Aria's turn to laugh, he thought she would surrender just because Cerberus had a few shiny toys. What the general didn't know was that she would fight for her kingdom till last breath. "You underestimate me just how much blood I'm willing to spill…" Petrovsky smirked a little, he was quite amused by her confidence.

"If you believe you can win, I won't stop you, in fact I welcome it" he said.

"Once I deal with your toys, your ass is mine"

"We will see Miss Aria, we will see…" The comm shut off. The asari then looked back at the three leaders.

"You want my help, you got it, but I'm in charge, you don't like, you can fend for yourself" Aria said. "Any disagreements?" The three leaders shook their heads, Aria pulled up her omni-tool.

"Yeah Aria?"

"Garka, bring everyone, it's time for war"

_**Elbrus**_

After speaking with Aria, Petrovsky sat back in his chair. "I take it Aria didn't surrender?" a man asked. To his side, a tall brown-hair man in a navy blue and white Cerberus uniform walked up. Colonel Raymond Ashe, second-in-command of Petrovsky. He is a ruthless man with a deep hatred for aliens, and is willing to accomplish his mission at any cost, be it his own men or even civilians. Due to this, he is the perfect complement to the tactical genius of the old general.

"No Raymond, but it would disappointing if it was that easy" Petrovsky said.

The man scoffed. "Typical alien arrogance…" he said. "Why don't we just wipe them all out?"

"The Illusive Man gave us very clear cut instructions; he wants Omega and its resources so no destroying the station" he said. "Patience, Colonel, she won't be so confident when she finds out about the Adjutant's nasty surprise" Ashe gave a cruel smirk.

_**Omega**_

While Aria was getting together her battle plan, in another part of Omega, members of the Blue suns were fighting for their lives. They were fighting Cerberus' Adjutants and were losing badly. The Adjutants were creatures discovered when went to salvage the Collector ship from the Omega-4 relay, they were of reaper origins but reaper influence seemed weaker in these husk-like creatures making it easy for Cerberus to reprogram them for their uses. They had great biotic potential, but that paled in comparison to their other ability….

"What…what the hell are those?" one of them asked.

"Who cares? Blast them!"

The Blue Suns tried to fire on the enemy, but bullets bounced off of them. The enemy then returns the action with a strong shockwave that wiped out half of the Blue Sun troops. The blue suns held on for as long as they could, but they kept advancing and more were joining as their numbers shrunk.

"S…shit nothing's working, r…retreat!" The remaining blue suns ran away from the Adjutants, only for the creature to disappear and reappear in front of them. One of them broke away from the group and tried to escape, but the one of the Adjutants teleported in front of him and impaled the merc. The squad leader used the distraction to throw grenades into the group Adjutants to clear a path, and they ran out of the district.

"Let's get out of here!" the Blue Sun leader said.

"What about Steve?!" one of them asked.

"Forget him, he's dead now!" Little did the leader know, his man was not dead, but was changed forever. Adjutant released the human, he began to squirm and writhe in pain on the floor.

"WHat dId YoU do TO Me…..AHHHH!" Steve said in pain. The transformation was painful, first the mercs head glowed blue and swell to a large size, his face warped and split into tentacles. His armor ripped open, what was once his white skin was now a horrifying blue-grey skin with light blue veins exploding from his arm. Finally the transformation was finished with grey tentacles exploding from his chest. The former human was now one of them, a horrifying fusion of reaper teach and Cerberus science. The new Adjutant howled, with its new brethren as they continued on their rampage.

_**Afterlife**_

Back at afterlife, Aria just finished going over the game plan of flushing Cerberus off the station with the Blue Sun, Eclipse, and Blood Pack leaders. Although it was a rough start, eventually they got with the program, after all they did not want face Cerberus alone.

"Are we clear?" Aria asked.

"Crazy plan, T'Loak, if we get this wrong half of Omega will be one big fireball" Sedreis said.

"I thought you loved crazy plans" Aria said.

"Not when they could backfire on me" She said.

"Well I hope your engineers are as good as you say they are" Just then Garka and Grizz ran in. The turian and the batarian had panicked looks on their face as they ran upstairs.

"Aria! We got trouble!"

"Pipe down, what is it?" She asked.

"Boss you may want to see this" Grizz said activating his omni-tool. "Turns out there was a reason for that Cerberus guy to be so confident" Aria took a look at the vid, in it there were several people running from the Adjutants. The Eclipse mercs came in to fire at them, but were wiped out by one of them. Just as the civilians made to the door, a couple of the Adjutants teleported in front of them and they lounge at them, as Aria watched her eyes went wide, along with the three merc leaders.

"What…the hell…?" Vosque asked.

"Those Adjutants are no joke, if they get their hands on you, it's all over and you become them"

"A self-creating army…."

"And they disappear and reappear out of nowhere…" Grizz said. "Yeah and they're not just changing the mercs, they're changing everyone including civilians"

Aria frowned. "Still think my plan is crazy, Sedreis?" The other asari said nothing. Aria then looked at Grizz. "Any more good news?"

"The other wards are flooded with them; if this keeps we'll lose fifty percent within twelve days, maybe even less"

"Then let's go"

_**Omega**_

"Shit! They keep coming!"

Things had gotten desperate down in the wards, so much so that former enemies, Blue Suns and Eclipse were forced to work together. For a while it worked, they were forcing the Adjutants back, until they found out the abominations other ability, they could turn the dead. Their former allies charged at them, some of the mercs were captured and turned into Adjutants, the rest fell back until reinforcements came with the big guns.

"Send out the Heavy mechs!" Five YMIR mechs came out and mowed them with their guns and missiles. Around them, FENNIR charged at the husks while the LOKI mechs gave much-needed support. The Adjutants blasted the FENNIR mechs as they came, but were taken down by the LOKI and YMIR mechs. They were turning them back, and the Blue suns and Eclipse were pouring on the pressure.

"Engineers, drones!" The engineers summoned their drones to lock down the Adjutants. The drones went in and distracted the Adjutants while the heavy weapon users and the other took them down. From their side they could hear more howls and screams, more came flooding in started to overwhelm the heavy mechs. The howls were becoming increasing, and the number of their mechs were going down. "How are the turrets?"

"Thirty percent down!"

"Shit, already?!" Two of the Adjutants teleported and appeared behind the mercs. The leader's eyes went wide until the Adjutants were lifted up by a singularity field and blasted with a warp field. It was Sederis, Kreete, Vosque, and more importantly Aria.

"Boss!"

"Idiots, can't you do anything without me?!" Sideris asked.

Aria scoffed. "Bitch about your people later, all troops fall back!" She said. The mercs looked at each other and ran. Aria raised her comm. "Grizz, Garka are we ready?"

"Ready Aria, Overloading plasma compositors, okay you should get out of there" Aria nodded and fell back while the mechs slowed the enemies down. The door closed and an explosion could be heard.

"Well?"

"All cleared, nothing can survive a plasma explosion, except mechs" Garka said. Aria looked back at the Eclipse mercs.

"Leave the mechs in there, just in case our friends come back" she said. "Any more affected areas?"

"Our guys and the Blood Pack are getting pummeled in the Aion District" Grizz said. "Some of the civilians are helping to fight back in the Gozu district, they're pushing them back"

"Civilians are? Who's helping them?"

Grizz chuckled. "Nyreen and her Talons"

Aria groaned. Nyreen Kandros was the turian leader of the Talons. Unlike the group's previous leader, Nyreen has a strong moral compass and extensive military experience, traits which gave her the skills necessary to convert the Talons from a lawless gang to a highly disciplined operation devoted to aiding and protecting Omega's civilians. And once upon a time, Aria and she were lovers until they had a falling out on the direction of Omega. "That bitch…" she said. "Tell her we'll be sending mechs her way"

"Got it" The com opened up.

"Aria, Patriarch's here, all clear on our front, I thought you said they were tough"

"If you underestimate them like you did me, you'll be in trouble, keep focused"

"Whatever" the com closed and another one open.

"Sanak here, Kon district cleared, and I'm also sending some gunships your way Aria"

"Got it, send some to Patriarch, make sure my idiot trophy don't get himself killed."

"Understood" Aria and her team then heard some howls.

"Get ready, it's going to be a long night…"

_**Elbrus**_

Back on the Cerberus ship, Colonel Ashe and General Petrovsky were watching the whole thing. Ashe clenched his fist; the scum of Omega were making fools of them. "What the hell? They're starting to push the Adjutants back, despite their numbers" Ashe said. He then heard laughing. "General?"

"Very interesting, it seems I've underestimated Miss T'Loak" Petrovsky said amused.

"Sir, this is hardly a joke, our weapons are being turned back by a bunch of thugs"

"Calm yourself, the war is still early" he said. "Activate the Rampart Mechs"

"Yes sir"

_**Omega**_

"Fuck you!" Aria said causing a huge biotic explosion. The Adjutant tried to grab the asari, but was blasted apart by Sederis.

"Don't think I did it to help you" she said. "Only I'm allowed to kill you!"

Aria smirked. "You're welcomed to try"

"If you two are done playing queen bitch, we got more tentacle-heads to kill" Vosque said killing two more.

"Keetre burn you all…HAHAHAHA!" the vorcha said welding his flamethrower.

The engineers summoned their drones and turrets to pick off the stragglers. The battle was going well so far, until they heard a scream. Aria and the three leaders looked back; mechs came out of nowhere and slaughtered the engineers. Aria and her team were surrounded Adjutants and mechs she had never seen before. They looked like the LOKI mechs, but they were bulkier and grey, some had shotguns while others had a chainsaw like omni-blade. They came in slaughtering the mercs, and along with them were more Adjutants all coming for them.

"Mechs? You insult me, Petrovsky!" Aria said. Her eyes glowed blue and a huge biotic force blew away the Adjutants and the mechs. She scoffed.

"Let's go" Aria and team walked away to kick Cerberus off her station.

_**Don't fuck with Aria indeed. Omega is pushing back against Cerberus and the tide is turning, but will it be enough?**_

_**Find out next time. As always Review and Comment.**_


	12. Chapter 12: Pain

**Chapter 12: Pain**

_**Trial Room (Toronto, Canada/Earth)**_

Back on Earth, the final leg of the trial had begun, and so far Shepherd's defense had proved unbeatable or at least hard to counter, and because it was the batarians with a jury full of humans, it helped him immensely. Still it was wearing on him; the batarian had been pounding at him for days, though it was surprising to the spectre that his past hadn't come up yet. All they would need to do is prove his malice of the batarian people, and his pass was one way to do that. Natalia looked at Shepherd.

"Are you okay, Wayne?" Natalia asked.

"Yeah, just tired, I'm just hoping the trial will be done soon" he said.

"Be patient, you'll get out of this soon" she said. The persecution's lawyer then stood up, Natalia had been on roll these last few days, the salarian was a good lawyer no doubt about it, but he was easily riled. And that made it easy for her to get the jury on their side, but something was different, he was calmer and more at ease. Natalia narrowed her eyes, something wasn't right, his client was very close to losing this case and yet he was calm…

"Your honor, people of the jury, we call Commander Shepherd a hero, why wouldn't he be? His story is awe-inspiring, one of the few survivors of that terrible tragedy on Mindoir" he said. "And went on to be the poster boy of the Alliance"

Natalia frowned. "What's his game?"

"But can we truly call him that; I call to the stand Lt. Johnny Li" Shepherd's eyes went wide, it was name he hadn't heard in years.

"Oh no…." Kaiden said.

Tali looked at him. "What is it, Kaiden?"

"Johnny Li is the older brother of Antony Li, one of Shepherd's men that died on Torfan" he explained. "He was also member of the surveillance team, the eye in the sky for mission; he saw his brother get gunned down."

"So he has a personal vendetta against boss" Garrus said.

"Like you wouldn't believe…"

"Oh no…" Tali gasped.

"Yeah it's going to get rough, in the few minutes" Kaiden said grimly.

Shepherd started to breathe harder, his greatest failure would be laid bare. He then felt hands on his. "Don't worry, you'll get through this" Natalia said.

Shepherd nodded. "Right, right…." The room's door opened and in came the Lieutenant making his way to the bench. Li was a by the book soldier, he always followed the rules, and expected others to also…however Shepherd was not that much of a rule follower, if the spectre could bend the rules to get a mission done he would it. And they usually came to blows about it, he looked at Shepherd, his brown eyes still holding the same look of hatred and contempt as the rest of them had those years ago. He makes it to bench.

"Please state your name"

"Lt. John Li, I work under Admiral Sergei Romanov" he said. "My brother was Private Antony Li, who was under the command of Commander Shepherd" He flinched when he heard how his name was said, with so much venom.

"Tell me about the mission to Torfan"

"The mission was to wipe out slaver cell of the batarians in retaliation for the Elysium attack" He said. "At went well at first…."

**_Torfan (Seven Years ago)_**

"_We made touchdown" Shepherd said. _

"_The batarian base is to the north, do not attack until you're received your orders" Li said._

"_Understood…"_

_Torfan, was a small moon that served as base for criminals, mostly batarians, who built strongholds deep underground. Shepherd and his team were on the planet to get intel on the batarians slaver activity, and shut it down in retaliation for the Skyllian Blitz on Elysium. Shepherd and his team made their way to the main base, while they were making their way to base; they could here sounds of battles as Alliance and Batarian ships engaged in combat. When Shepherd had heard that the Alliance were going to shut down the batarians, he jumped on board the mission with no hesitation, however Anderson was not so sure he should have been on the mission due to his personal feelings on the batarians. Shepherd had ensure the captain, that he wouldn't let his person feelings get in the way…he lied to him, as he lied to himself because it was going to be more personal than he could ever image…_

"_We're at the base, entering now" The team made it in the base, the complex was large and was full of batarians. Per Major Kyle's instructions, they were to go in and go quietly. The team encountered their first batarian troopers, and knocked them out, though Shepherd had to fight the urge to snap the alien's necks._

"_There should be a terminal room near your position, it should tell you were the main control room is." Li said. "Once there you shut their operations down"_

"_Got it…"_

_**Now**_

"So it went well, without a hitch, so how did it go bad?" the accuser asked.

Li sighed. "It was right after Shepherd's team made it to the control room, afterwards he just snapped"

**_Torfan (Seven Years Ago)_**

_Shepherd's team made it to the control room, the room lit up with the screens of the different rooms in the compound. A man in black armor went to the terminal, His name was Antony Li, he was the younger brother of their communication specialist John Li. Like his brother, he too was also a stickler of the rules, though unlike his big brother he would bend the rules depending on the situation. He was quite popular with the other men, sociable, friendly, even Shepherd somewhat tolerated him. "We've made it to the control room" Antony said on the com. "Now wiping their data"_

"_Good, we'll hold the door" Shepherd said. He directed his men to look for guards, while Shepherd stood with Antony while he worked._

"_So, I hear you came from Mindoir"_

_Shepherd looked back. "What of it?"_

"_I heard it was rough, that you lost everything…tell me is that the reason you…."_

"_Shouldn't you be focusing on the data?" Shepherd asked coldly._

"_Uh, right…"Antony said. "Got it! We can go" Shepherd nodded as Antony got up and walked to the door. As Shepherd went to follow them, he looks at the surveillance footage and saw the people suffering from the batarian's treatment. His mind flashed back to that day on Mindoir, the fires, the smell of smoke, and sound of screams and gunfire as he tried to make it back to his neighborhood to rescue his family and his girlfriend's family. When he finally made it, after helping fellow civilians, he saw his mother and father gunned down._

"_MOM! DAD! DIE YOU FUCKING BLINKS!" His mind snapped back to reality, as he glared at the screen as one of them started to beat their captives. He growled. "Fucking blinks…" Shepherd muttered angrily. He went to join his squad, but then something caught his eye, it was girl, no more than twelve she had dark skin and Asian features like him. She looked like her younger sister, Kyoko, but that couldn't be as she died on Mindoir…or at least he thought so, they never found his sister's body after the attack. But then the Commander went to the console and zoomed in on her neck, Shepherd's eyes then went wide when he saw the necklace under her slave collar, it was the exact one his mother gave to her when she was five, it was gift she got from her mother. It was his sister…she was alive…Shepherd ran out of the room and went the opposite way._

"_Shepherd, what the hell…?"_

"_Private, what's happening?" _

"_Shepherd flew the coup, I don't know why" Antony said._

"_Shit!" As Shepherd ran to save his sister, his com broke through"_

"_Commander Shepherd, you are disobeying an order, return to your squad" Shepherd then turned off his com._

"_Dammit!" A voice spoke up._

"_Lt. what happened?" Major Kyle asked._

_**Now**_

"And he just left his position? Without warning?" the accuser asked. The grumbles from the crowd made it clear that they were not happy.

"Yes, my brother and the rest of the squad went to Shepherd to get him back, and that's when all hell broke loose"

_**Torfan (Seven years ago)**_

_Shepherd ran in the base, desperately to look for his little sister, his only family left, he didn't bother with stealth anymore. Any batarians that got in his way, were killed, nothing would stop him. He turned the corner where he heard screaming coming from a door on the left he ran to the door and smashed the door open. He saw his sister being hooked to a machine, an upgrade machine, he had heard about them it was to give the collars extra juice to 'discipline' their captives if they were disobeyed. His blood went cold as he saw his sister scream and cry in anguish as the batarians tried to start the machine, Shepherd took his firearm and took aim at the batarians killing them dead. As he went to free his sister, she saw him and tears flowed from her eyes._

"_Wayney, you're alive…." She choked. "I thought…"_

"_I know, Kyoko, but we….we can be a family again" Shepherd said as he released her. Kyoko once released hugged him tightly, sobbing, what she must have been through must have been unimaginable. He wanted to cry too, but this was not the time or place, he could do all that once he got her out of there. He took her into his arms, and carried her out of the room. He saw Antony and the rest of the squad, they were not happy._

"_Shepherd, what the hell were you thinking? You almost jeopardized the mission for a girl?"_

_Shepherd glared at him. "Not just a girl, my sister!" When Antony heard that, he instantly shut up. _

_He sighed. "Okay what's done is done, let's get out of here, your little fiasco have just alerted the whole base"_

_Shepherd nodded. "Hang on to me, Kyoko, alright?" Kyoko nodded and held on tightly. With the whole base under alert, escaping proved to be hell. As they got closer to the exit, they were losing more and more people, until Shepherd, Kyoko, and Antony was left. One more corridor and they would be free, but the batarians had other plans._

"_We're almost there…" Antony said. When they got close, they were met with Batarian firing squad, they were pinned down. Antony took potshots at the batarians, getting some of them in the head; however the batarians called on reinforcements. In just a few minutes they would be swarmed. _

"_Wayney, I'm scared…" Kyoko said. Shepherd kissed her forehead._

"_We'll get out of this, I promise you" He said gently. _

_Antony sighed. "You will, Shepherd, there's an alternate way to get out of here" he said. "Go and take it" _

"_What about you?" Shepherd asked. Antony grabbed his collar._

"_Are you willing to die to save your sister?" He asked._

_Shepherd hesitated at first. "Yes I am, I won't let her go through that hell again"_

"_Then, go, I'll hold them off" he said._

_Shepherd nodded. "Thank you, Private"_

"_Just one thing, tell me my brother, I'm sorry…" He said. Shepherd nodded and ran with Kyoko. Antony then faces the firing squad. "Come on, you fucking blinks, get some!"_

_Shepherd ran for his life, with his sister, getting to next entrance. "Wayney, your arm is beeping" Kyoko said._

_Shepherd raised his arm, next to Private Antony Li's name, was the word 'no signal in red. "I'm sorry…" He then heard the voice of the batarians._

"_Use the heavy weapons, I won't that ape killed." _

"_Shit!" Shepherd said._

"_Wayney…" Kyoko said. She had fear in her eyes._

"_Don't worry, we'll be…." His words was cut off by an explosion pushed him back. Moment later when his came to he went to look for sister, his blood went cold when he saw his sister on the floor not moving, her blood everywhere._

"_K-Kyoko, please stay with me…" He said with tears in his eyes. But his sister didn't move. "Nonononono, w-we were supposed to be family again, please, sis open your eyes, PLEASE!" Shepherd cradled his younger sister's lifeless body as he cried in despair. He then heard the clicking of guns behind him._

"_Give up, human" one of the batarians said. Shepherd looked back at them, and only rage was left in his eyes causing to them to back up a little. Shepherd's body started to radiate dark energy._

"_Die…" Shepherd said coldly._

**_Now_**

"All we could hear was gunfire and then the com went out" John said. "When we saw Shepherd again, he was covered in batarian blood carrying a dead girl in his arms, with eyes as cold as ice"

"We asked him what happened, but it wasn't needed, we saw it, Twenty men, including my brother dead, every single batarian in the base dead, Shepherd didn't just fought the batarians, he went hunting" he said. "After seeing so much death, Major Kyle was never the same after that and was honorably discharged, and he became a leader of those crazy biotics years later"

"So he broke protocol, which cased this debacle"

"Yes"

"Objection! What happened seven years ago has no place in court now!" Natalia said.

"But, it has everything to do with this case; Commander Shepherd has had a history of racial hatred of batarians, because of Mindoir. Torfan was just a red light, but Bahak was proof" the accuser said. "And because of that hatred, 300,000 died, in which I ask the court, when will it be enough, until the Commander had his fill of revenge, until he's wiped them off the face of the galaxy?"

"Can you really defend, this war criminal, just because he was friends with your niece Ms. Schwartz?"

"You son of a…" The gavel was banged loudly.

"Order! We will now take recess, so the jury can come up with the verdict!" Later after the recess, it was time for jury to make the verdict, Shepherd and team was on pins and needles, especially Tali.

"Have the jury come up with a verdict?"

"Yes, your honor, for the death of 300,000 batarians, we find Commander Wayne Allen Shepherd, guilty of all charges" The Normandy crew was stunned; their leader's head on the chopping block.

"Wayne Shepherd, you are here by stripped of your rank and your ship will be locked down, as of now it is Alliance property" the judge said. "Since you are still a spectre, you will be confined Alliance headquarters until we have words of your spectre status being revoked"

"And if it gets revoked?" Natalia asked grimly.

"Then he will receive the death penalty, for attempted genocide" he said. "Court is now adjourned"

The banging of the gavel echoed in the air.

_**Shepherd's dark past revealed! The verdict: Guilty! What happens to the Normandy team going forward?**_

_**Find out next time! As always Review and Comment.**_


	13. Chapter 13: Worth of a Hero

**Chapter 13: Worth of a Hero**

_**Trial Room**_

"Wayne Shepherd, you are here by stripped of your rank and your ship will be locked down, from now on it is Alliance property" the judge said. "Since you are still a spectre, you will be confined Alliance headquarters until we have word of your spectre status being revoked"

"And if it gets revoked?" Natalia asked grimly.

"Then he will receive the death penalty, for attempted genocide" he said. "Court is now adjourned"

The banging of the gavel echoed in the air, as the trial room emptied, Shepherd just sat there. Natalia walked up to him and place a hand on his shoulder. "Do not worry Shepherd, I will appeal this, I will make sure of it…" Shepherd tried to smile to reassure that he believed her but he knew the truth, there was not going to be an appeal. He had brought a huge shit-storm to the Alliance and they just wanted it gone.

"Thank you…" Anderson came up to them.

"Let's get out of here, son, this had to be draining to you" Shepherd nodded and went back to his room with the others closely behind.

_**The Committee Room**_

As Shepherd left the trial room, the committee members watched the whole thing from their seats. They were quite happy with the results, they got rid of their image problem, and they replaced Shepherd with a new poster boy. Unlike Shepherd, Kaiden Alenko didn't have the type of baggage that the spectre had, his record was perfect, he would be the one to repair humanities' image. The committee door opened to reveal Lt. John Li. "Ah Lieutenant, good job on your testimony against Shepherd, I'm sure it was hard for you" Mutuku said.

Li shook his head. "Not at all, sir, I was happy to" he said. "Shepherd got what was coming to him, he should have been court martialed and jailed for Torfan, better late than never" Mukutu smirked, Li was very model of an Alliance soldier, dedicated, by-the-book, and respectful to his superiors. Though some people would never appreciate that kind of loyalty, it was what humanity needed; it was what the Alliance needed. The dark skinned man nodded and Li walked out of the room, he then faced his colleague.

"Now that that's out of the way, what's next?"

"We deal with his crew" Tui said. "They're just traitors; I doubt the public will care what happens to them, as for the aliens…deport them"

"That may be a problem…" Shriver said. "Hackett bypassed us an went to parliament, if Shepherd surrenders, his crew will be spared" It was more than that, because Hackett had some pull due to the relationships he's made throughout the years…per Shepherd's request his crew were to be pardoned and admitted as members of the Alliance for when his trial went south.

Mutuku groaned. "Steven Hackett…that man has been a thorn to our side for years…" he said. "How is Udina on revoking Shepherd's spectre status?"

"Slow, despite the ruling, the Council has slow with any talks about Shepherd's status" Alexendros said with a scoff. "Though I'm not really surprised"

"Aliens…" Shriver said. "Now we need to do something with the Normandy"

"Call the engineering corps; tell them I want the Normandy flying Alliance colors ASAP"

_**The Normandy**_

Joker sat in his chair depressed; he had just watched the verdict from his pilot chair since he couldn't be there in person. He just couldn't believe a jury of all humans sided with the batarians, after everything Shepherd done for them. Then he thought about the reapers, he knew they were coming, they all knew and the only one who could stop them was looking at a death sentence. By ruling against Shepherd, they killed any chance of survival.

"Jeff, are you okay?" Joker looked to the side to see EDI's avatar staring at him, Joker thought he was going crazy, but the AI almost sounded concerned. His head started to lower, now that Shepherd was in the hoosegow, the AI no longer had any protection, soon the Committee would send someone to take the ship and they would find out about EDI and try to erase her. Despite their rough start, Joker has come to consider the AI as a friend, he didn't think he could have so much in common with her, but he did, it was only showing up now that she was unshackled. "Jeff?"

"Oh I'm fine EDI…just wondering what's next…" Joker said. "This is bullshit…Shepherd deserve better…"

"Do not worry Jeff; I believe Shepherd can get through this…" Joker looked at her surprised, he never expected EDI to be optimistic, the AI was surprising him every time. "Shepherd survived Saren, he survived death, the Collectors, and Cerberus, I believe he can survive this…."

Joker smiled. "I guess if you believe, I can too…" Out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement from the outside camera, there was a group of people walking towards the ship. In the front were two women in Alliance uniform carrying rifles, the first one was a red-haired with fair skin who had a passive bored look on her face, the other was dark-haired with olive skin who had frown on her face like someone had crapped in her coffee this morning. Behind them, was a short woman with medium black hair and dark-skinned, she was bouncing on her toes excited about something. Next to her was a man who Joker recognized, Gregory Adams, the chief engineer for the original Normandy. When Joker came to him with news that Shepherd was alive, Adams flat-out didn't believe him saying that Cerberus was lying to him. Ultimately, Joker went with Chakwas to join Shepherd, while Adams stayed with the Alliance. "Shit…EDI play it cool, don't let them know you're a AI"

"Of course, Jeff" Joker got up out of his seat, to meet the boarding party. He went to the Airlock, to see two rifles being pointed at him. Adams came forward and lowered the guns.

"At ease girls, Joker is harmless…" he said.

"Can't be too sure with Cerberus…" The dark hair girl said narrowing her eyes at Joker. The pilot wanted to correct her, but he really didn't feel like pissing the woman off more. The other woman seemed more agreeable than her friend, and stood down, seeing her standing down calmed her down though she still looked at Joker with hard eyes. Adams looked at Joker and held out a hand.

"Been a long time, Joker"

Joker hesitantly shook his hand. "Yeah, it has…" Adams nodded his head and the people walked into the ship, leaving the pilot with Adams.

"So this is the new Normandy huh….?" He asked. "It's big…"

"Yeah…." There was silence between them. "Adams, about Shepherd…" Adams sighed looking away.

"Look I'm not going to lecture you about your choices" Adams said. "I just have to ask, was it worth it?"

"We did what we had to…"

Adams frowned. "And what has that brought you?" he asked. "You are criminals now, I should let the guards arrest you, but since we were once comrades…." The engineer sighed. "Look we'll talk later…don't worry about Westmoreland and Campbell, I'll try to keep them in line" Adams walked to the elevator.

"Thank you Adams…"

_**Trial Room**_

Natalia was talking to the Judge on trying to appeal the ruling; however the judge was blocked from making such a decision by order of the Committee. The Judge walked away as Natalia sat in a chair frustrated with the turn of events, back in law school, her professors taught her not to get close to their client. A lawyer had to care about their client's plight, it was how they maximized their effectiveness in the courtroom but doing that carried the risk of getting too close. And she was too close, when she heard Shepherd was the former boyfriend of her dead niece, she should have recused herself but his trial became personal. She shook her head, she had gotten sloppy, when Natalia got too close, and she opened herself and her client to questions about his past. The door opened to show James and Lia walking towards them.

"Any luck?" James asked. Natalia shook her head and James and Lia lowered their head. "What else can we do?"

Natalia sighed. "We can appeal to the Parliament, since they're higher than the committee, but…"

"But?" Lia asked.

"It would take months to get an answer from them, we don't have months" Natalia said. "Not to mention, I doubt they want to go through the media circus again…"

"Damn we got to do something…" Just they trying to think of ways to help Shepherd, they heard yelling to their side. "What the hell?" The three of them went to a room to the left and saw a bunch of people yelling a holding up signs on TV. He walked up to one of the soldiers that was watching the scene. "Hey, what are you watching?"

"Protests have broken out outside of the building." He said. "Apparently a lot of people were not very happy about the verdict" James looked back to the TV as the screen changed to show different cities around the world, they all held out signs each with different languages but meant the same thing: they wanted justice for Shepherd. There were even protests at the hotel the Batarian representatives were staying at, some of the people outside were soldiers, they were risking a lot as they could get in trouble for insubordination but were there regardless.

"Keelah, look at them all" Lia said shocked. James looked on with a smirk on his face, part of the Alliance may have forgotten Shepherd's service, but most haven't. He walked away, and Lia looked back. "Jimmy?"

"I'm going to Shepherd; he needs to see this…"

**_Shepherd is not out of the ball game yet. But will it be enough?_**

**_Next time….as always Review and Comment._**


	14. Chapter 14: Hope

**Chapter 14: Hope**

_**Toronto, Canada (Earth) **_

The team was back in his room, dispirited by Shepherd's trial. Shepherd was on the bed waiting for the other shoe to drop, for the first time Shepherd did not know what to do. He looked to Tali to his left who had her head on his shoulder, he knew she was trying keep a strong face, but it was tearing her up inside. She went through see him die two years ago and almost dying months before on the mission, and now she would see the Alliance; the organization he risked his life for kill him. It would be too much for her to bear; he almost wished she was back with the fleet. Shepherd looked to the others; they looked just as defeated as he was, except Jack who was angrily pacing around the room. She then spoke up, unable to keep her silence.

"This bullshit, after everything you did for those shit-heads" Before she could keep ranting, Kelly held on to her hand.

"Jack…" The ex-convict looked at everyone, the atmosphere was just so depressing and Jack's ranting didn't help things.

Jack scoffed. "I need a drink…" She muttered as she walked away, Kelly faced the other with an apologetic look on her face.

"Forgive her, she means well…" Kelly said.

"We know…" Tali said softly. Kelly went out of the room to catch up with her girlfriend; Anderson came up and placed a hand on the spectre's shoulder. This was especially hard on the old Admiral; ever since his wife and sons left him he's seen Shepherd as a third son. In his eyes, Shepherd was still a hero; a man willing to risk his life to save everyone…it was only a shame the galaxy couldn't see it, a soldier's work is truly a thankless job .

Anderson sighed. "You put up a good fight, son"

"A lot of good that do" Shepherd said.

"What happens now? The council should have heard about the verdict by now" Kaiden said. The new spectre was worried, with the reapers coming he was going to have to step up and lead everyone in the coming war. He had no idea how he was going to do it, for the first time he felt overwhelmed, he was a good soldier, but he was no Shepherd.

"Honestly, I don't know, my guess is they are conflicted"

Tali frowned. "Funny, they didn't seem that way when they buried everything"

Shepherd scoffed. "I would think they would have jumped at the chance to be rid of me"

"Despite how much you gave them headaches you gave them, they still owe you for saving their lives" Anderson said.

"Funny how they show that by letting Shepherd burn" Garrus said. Garrus' omni-tool beeped. As he opened his tool and read it, his eyes went wide and walked out of the room.

"Garrus are you okay? You seem pale" Kasumi asked.

He looked back. "Y-yeah, just need some air" Garrus said leaving the room.

"Anderson, can't you talk to Udina about letting Wayne keep his status" Tali said concerned. "Otherwise, he's looking at death" Anderson sighed, if only it was that easy, Udina was as petty as he was power-hungry. The Councilor was infamous among his peers for the cynical, spiteful political games he played to screw with the politicians that somehow wronged him. It was that pettiness that led to the slow response to Mindoir, because of the grudge he had with the colony's representative.

"I can try, but that bastard knows how to hold a grudge" Anderson said. "I wouldn't be surprised if he motions to revoke his spectre status out of spite" James came running in along with Lia and Natalia. They looked excited for some reason; Natalia especially had a big smile.

"Guys!"

"What is it, Vega?" Kaiden asked.

"Turn on the TV; you've got to see this!" James said. Kaiden turned on the TV, Shepherd and team eyes went wide. There was a huge crowd of people outside of the building, holding up signs with Shepherd's picture saying 'Shepherd was wronged, down with the Alliance' the screen then shifted to different parts of Earth, from Cairo to Tokyo all with people holding up signs in different languages all for Shepherd's release. The screens got smaller and showed a woman with light brown hair in a tight white dress sitting at a desk.

"This is Diana Allers for Alliance News Network with breaking news" she said. "Controversy! Soon after Commander Wayne Shepherd was found guilty for the deaths of 300,000 batarians in the Bahak system, protests have broken out on Earth, Feros, the Citadel, Eden Prime, Horizon, and Mindoir, the colony of Commander Shepherd's birth" The screen changed to show the Citadel, and several of the planets mention with people marching down yelling. On the Citadel, C-sec was watching the crowds making sure it stayed peaceful.

"Many protestors are chanting in the streets to free Commander Shepherd, as a rumor is going around, that Bahak was an Alliance cover-up and that Shepherd was wrongly accused"

"Many Alliance diplomats and admirals are speaking out on the hearing, saying it was nothing more than a witch hunt"

"This outrage does not stop to just the human population, as many aliens are also protesting the decision also" They showed an image of an asari in the protest crowd.

"Two years ago, my bondmate was on the Destiny Ascension when Saren attacked the Citadel, without the Commander, my bondmate would have died along with the council"

"Because of the severity of the backlash, all talks of revoking Commander Shepherd's spectre status have stopped cold, with Ambassador Dominic Osoba looking in to investigating the Bahak incident, said investigation will take several months to a year" she said. "This is Diana Allers with ANN" Shepherd just sat there slack-jawed, he knew he was popular, but he never in his wildest dream did he think he had the influence to cause protests on his behalf. Tali pounced on him, hugging tightly.

"Keelah, this is a dream come true"

"I know….but what about the batarians? They'll be pissed" Kaiden said.

"I don't think they'll try something, not with Shepherd having so much support" Natalia said.

"What are you going to do?"

"Try and get your sentence overturned, with the admirals and humanities diplomats on your side, they won't be as hostile to me as they were before" She said walking away.

Anderson shook his head and smirked. "I don't know how, but luck just seem to follow you around" he said. Then he got serious. "Now that this mess is out-of-the-way we can focus on the real problem"

"The reapers…"

"Yeah, I'll see if I can get some of the other admirals to help out, surely there's got to be more personnel that believes the reaper threat other than me and Hackett" he said walking away. Garrus came back in.

"Garrus, where was you? You missed the good news, Shepherd may be cleared" Tali said. "Garrus?"

"Huh? Oh nice, I'm happy for you, Boss"

"You okay, Garrus? You seem distracted" Kaiden said.

"Sorry, I have a lot on my mind…" Garrus said.

"What's going on? You know you can tell us anything" Shepherd said.

Garrus sighed. "It's about my mother…"

_**Hallway**_

As Anderson was walking, he decided to make a call to an old friend. "David! It's good see you"

Anderson smiled. "You too, Kahlee, how's been the teaching world been treating you?"

Kaylee chuckled. "I love these kids to death, but they can drive me crazy at times" she said. She then grew serious. "I'm sorry about Shepherd…."

"Don't be, Shepherd is fine"

"Something happened?"

"Let's just say, there is one thing politicians fear more than each other, their constituents"

She chuckled. "I see, so what do you want? It's not like you to call without a reason"

"You remember what happened a month and a half ago, right?"

Kahlee shuddered. "I try to forget what happened to Grayson, why?"

"I had gotten information, that Cerberus may be targeting you kids" Anderson said. The information in question was from the Shadow Broker, about a week ago the broker contacted him with info saying Grissom Academy could be a possible Cerberus target. The admiral was at first reluctant to take the information, but remembering what Gillian went through, he swallowed his pride and took it.

"What, why?"

"I don't know, but all I know is that anytime Cerberus is on the move, it's never good" he said. "You may have to prepare your kids"

"What do you suggest?"

"Well you said that you needed more biotic teachers"

Kaylee raised a brow. "Who do you have in mind?"

_**Shepherd's room**_

Back in Shepherd's room, Garrus told the others about the call he had gotten from Palaven. His mother was dying, for as long as he's been alive his mom had been sick, it was a rare genetic condition similar to sickle-cell in humans. With the right treatment, his mom could live with her condition with no complications, however the treatment was expensive and the insurance company covering the payment went under because of an investigation probe on Noveria. With no payment for treatments, the company that made the drug stopped supplying and that's when his mom's condition got worse. She was at the Zohan Memorial Hospital which had the best care on Palaven due to his father's connections but his mother's condition was too far advanced. "Keelah, how long does she have?" Tali asked.

Garrus sighed. "A couple of months, the doctors said their doing everything they can to make her comfortable" he said. "My father and sister will be there"

"I take it you're not looking forward to it" Shepherd said. That was an understatement, his father was Kazen Valkarian a legend among c-sec and a very by the book kind of man. He would often lecture his sister and him on the importance of the rule of law, his favorite thing to say was 'Do things right or don't do them at all' he was very disappointed when he went with Shepherd the first time and when he quit C-sec Kazen practicly disowned him.

"My dad and I have never seen eye to eye, especially during my days in C-sec" Garrus said. "I don't want to argue with him, especially with my mother on her deathbed"

"Who knows maybe it will be different this time" Kaiden said.

"Heh, you don't know my father, but for my mom and Solana, I'll bite my tongue if he does the same" Garrus said. "I just sorry I won't be here boss"

"Don't worry about it; your family is more important, I'm just going to miss you" Shepherd said holding out his hand.

Garrus took his hand. "Thanks boss, I promise you when it's time, I'll be ready" Shepherd nodded.

"Take care of yourself, Garrus" Tali said as she gave him a hug.

"Gave your family our regards" Kaiden said shaking Garrus' hand.

"I will"

_**Normandy**_

"Jack, please calm down…" Kelly said. Jack was pacing around in her room; she wasn't even supposed to be on the ship and when the guards tried to stop her Jack was very close to going on a shockwave rampage until Kelly stopped her. She was still pissed at the ruling, very pissed and Kelly tried her best to calm her down, but once the woman got going, it was impossible to stop her.

"Ungrateful fuckers, that's what they are, Shepherd risks his ass to save them, he fucking joins Cerberus to save them, and this is how they repay him" Jack said fuming.

"Shepherd still has his spectre status…"

"Until the fuckers at the citadel decide to take that away, then he's dead" She said. "Fuck this…" She walks to the door.

"Wait, where are you going?" Kelly asked.

"Breaking him out…" Jack said walking away. Kelly then move in front of her, she had to stop her, when Jack is angry doesn't think about the consequences of her actions. And with Shepherd in trouble they needed to be on their best behavior. "Move Red"

"Oh no, you are not doing this…"

"Watch me" Jack said brushing against her. Kelly grabbed her hand.

"Damn it, will you wait and think?" she asked. "If you do this, then Shepherd will be hunted down by both the Alliance and the batarians."

"Yeah, but…"

"How will he stop the reapers, if he's running from the very people he's trying to save?" Kelly asked. "Besides, you know he wouldn't agree to this, he's too much of a boy scout, remember?"

Jack sighed. "Shit, I know…but he deserves better than this" she said. "Shepherd was the first one to reach out to me, he never used me for anything, shit he's probably the first friend I ever made in my god awful life" Kelly kissed her lips.

"I know, baby…we all feel the same…" She said softly. Then an image appeared from Jack's omni-tool on her cot.

"Finally, I reached you" The woman then saw Jack and Kelly together. "Oh sorry for disturbing you"

Jack frowned. "Who the fuck is you?"

"Oh, David said you had a colorful language" She then saw Jack starting to glow blue. "My name is Kahlee Sanders; I'm the headmistress for Grissom Academy"

"Grissom who?" Kelly spoke up.

"Grissom Academy, it an Alliance-founded school that teach gifted children, including biotics" she said.

Kaylee smirked, impressed with her knowledge. "Correct"

"O…kay, that still doesn't explain what you want" Jack said with crossed arms.

"I want to hire you as a teacher for the biotic students" Jack blinked, she wasn't what you call a people person, and she especially had kids from her experiences at Pragia. For someone to want her to teach a bunch of kids, they must be high, but from the look of the woman's official attire she wasn't kidding.

"What?"

"I want to…"

"I know want you said! Is this some kind of joke? 'Cause I ain't laughing" Jack said.

"No joke, we want you because of your skills with biotics"

"You do know that I'm an ex-con, right?"

Kaylee raised a brow. "Strange, your record didn't say that" Jack blinked and looked at her record. It was spotless, there were no charges on vandalism, piracy, kidnapping, murder, not even destroying the hanar's favorite moon was on there.

"What? I got a record a mile long! How the…" She then saw Shepherd's name, somehow he got the Alliance and the council to drop all past charges. The whole galaxy was after him with fire and pitchforks, so when did he have the time to do this? Then she smiled softly, no one has ever gone this far for her, he was truly looking out for her. "Fucking boy scout…"

"So how about it? Of course joining Grissom would mean technically joining the Alliance" Jack thought about it for a while and Kelly gave her a playful nudge with a smile. A second chance, she never thought she would have that, it was so strange….

"Okay, I'll do it, but know this I won't go easy on the little brats" Kaylee gave her a look. "Don't worry, I won't kill them…"

"Good, well there will be shuttle waiting for you, to the school" she said. "We'll hold it if you want to say goodbye"

"No thanks, I was never much for goodbyes"

Kaylee nodded. "I'll see you there" The image was gone.

"Well we should get going, shouldn't we?" Kelly asked. Jack looked at her with a raised brow.

"Who said you were coming with me?"

Kelly crossed her arms. "Like you would last three minutes there alone" she said. "Besides, those kids are going to need a therapist after you're done"

"I'm not that bad with kids" she said slightly offended. Kelly gave her a look. Jack scoffed. "Fuck fine…" She smiled and kissed her lips.

"Good"

Moments later the two were in the cockpit, looking back at their home. It was a weird thing to have a home, she had spent most of her life on the move, to her back then there wasn't place she belonged. And the most ironic thing was it was a Cerberus ship she considered home, or maybe because of the people here it didn't feel like a Cerberus ship. She smiled a little thinking about her time on the ship, so this what it meant to have good memories, it was strange feeling, but it also felt good at the same time. Kelly grasped her hand.

"Jack are you…?"

"Yeah, the longer I stay, the harder it will be to leave…" Kelly just nodded and the couple left their home, and their family.

_**Space terminal**_

Jack and Kelly were not the only ones, reluctant about leaving, Garrus was also. "Last call for Palaven, last call for Palaven" the PA said.

Garrus took one last look at the building, before boarding the shuttle. "Don't worry boss, I'll be ready…"

_**Garrus and Jack gone! The team splitting up! **_

_**It's not too late weigh in, if you have a request for chapter, tell me and I'll put it in. Next time! As always Review and Comment.**_


	15. Chapter 15: Fallen

**Chapter 15: Fallen**

_**Migrant Fleet (The Skaza)**_

"That's preposterous! What makes you think I would even go with such a plan?" Koris asked outraged. The admirals were in a meeting on the biggest ship in the fleet the Skaza to discuss the future of their people. To make up for his mistakes on the Alarei Rael'Zorah proposed colonizing a new world for the quarian people. Rael's plan though hard was quite popular with the members of the Conclave, however not everyone was happy with the plan.

Gerrel scoffed, his proposal was war with the geth, ever since there was reports about the Geth being in lesser numbers the old admiral he's been even more outspoken on the need to destroy the synthetics which was popular with the Marines and some of the citizens, especially the young. "What would you suggest, keep running? You've read the reports, this is the best chance we've had in three hundred years!" he said. "The geth have weakened, we can take back our homeworld!"

"And doom us all! You would risk the fate of our people because of a temporary advantage?" Koris asked.

"It is better we strike now while we have the advantage! With Xen's new weapons…."

Korris scoffed. "Weapons that haven't even been field tested"

"I have to agree with Korris, what guarantee do we have that her weapons won't cause more harm than good?" Shala asked. "We should continue with Rael's plan of finding a new world to colonize"

"That would take years! You know the council has threatened us for even looking at a planet!"

"Which is why we are going to colonize a planet out in the Terminus System, the Council has no power there" Rael said.

Gerrel snorted. "So if our old ships don't kill us first, the pirates and the slavers will"

"As leader of the Admiralty Board, my decision is final, Gerrel" Rael said.

Gerrel frowned at his old friend, Rael and Gerrel had been through a lot throughout the years. Both were born on the same ship, and served the same captain and crew until they were chosen to be Admirals for the Neema and Rayya respectively. Out of the admirals, they were the ones with the most history and more importantly they were of like mind… "What happened to that fire you had, Rael? You wanted the homeworld back as bad as me in the past"

_**Months ago (The Alarei)**_

_Tali looked at her father, he was alive, part of her was glad, although she had wish throttle him for everything. However this was not the time. "Tali…" Rael said. Tali took a deep breath trying to keep her emotions together, she had so many questions._

"_What is going on here, Ayah?" Tali asked. "Why are the geth here? What have you done?"_

_Rael turned his back. "Getting our home back" he simply said._

_She looked at the dead quarian, not far from them. "How? By killing our people?" Tali asked angrily. Rael shook his head._

"_It wasn't supposed to be like this" he said. "The plan was to use the geth consensus as a weapon" _

"_Wait, how?" Garrus asked._

"_Your pilgrimage gift, Tali, was more helpful to our people than you think, with it we had a deeper understanding of how the geth worked" Rael said. "And then we had a thought, what if we could use the geth consensus against them, like scrambling the data they received from each other, thus turning them against each other or collapse it, destroying them for the inside"_

"_W-what?" Tali asked. "Is that why you wanted me to go the Haestrom?"_

"_Yes, but, we needed an intact geth" Rael said. "Since you couldn't bring them back whole, I told you to bring back parts so we could rebuild it here"_

"_No…this can't be…" Tali slid to the floor, reeling from the explanation. She had thought they were going to use the parts to repair the ships, or improve the fleet's defenses, the truth was too hard swallow, her own father used her. All those dead on Haestrom, and the dead on the Alarei was because of her father, and by extension her. It was her fault this all happened, Shepherd came to her side and helped her up, he then glared at Rael._

"_Bastard, you almost got your daughter killed!" Shepherd growled. "She going to be exiled for your damned mistakes"_

"_Why? Why risk the safety of the fleet for this?" Garrus asked angrily._

"_Because I promised her mother" Rael said. Tali looked at him. "I promised her that I would build a house for Tali, I did for our family."_

"_What family?" Tali asked. She glared at her father, and all of a sudden the memories of her childhood came flooding back. "All of sudden, you care about our family? You who couldn't even be bothered see your own wife on her deathbed!"_

"_Tali…I…"_

"_How dare you use my mother as way to justify this….this abomination!" She growled. "Because of your actions, I may never see our home again!"_

"_I'm sorry…I'm so sorry" Rael said. Tali felt a pain in her gut when she heard that, he was sorry? It was too little too late, he had years to be a better father and he wasted on his duties. Sorry wasn't going to bring back the dead, sorry wasn't going to stop the other admirals from exiling her, and sorry was definitely not going to stop this feeling of betrayal. _

"_So am I" she said._

"_How do we stop this?" Shepherd asked._

"_Their hub will be on the bridge. If you destroy it, their VI processes will stop forming new neural links."_

_Tali looked to Garrus and Shepherd and walked passed her father. If she was going to be exiled, the least she could do is stop the madness her father released on the fleet. "Let's go"_

_Rael grabbed her arm. "Wait where are you going?" he asked._

_Tali pulled her arm away. "To clean up your mess" she said. They walked away. _

Rael sighed remembering how his daughter looked at him, with such contempt, Tali was right…Ziva would be ashamed at what he became. In trying to keep his promise, he had hurt his daughter deeper than any gunshot wound. He looked away. "Some things are just not worth it…"

Gerrel scoffed in disgust. "You've become a spineless coward, just like the rest of these suit wetters" he said walking away.

_**The Moreh**_

The Science fleet, they were the fleet responsible for the weapons and devices the rest of the fleet uses, though they are considered they are not really a fleet but a hodge-podge of different ships from the Civilian, Engineering, Heavy, and Patrol fleets. At the helm of the fleet was the Moreh, under the control of Admiral Daro'Xen. Xen was a genius of the fleet, her inventions and designs was what made her Admiral in the first place, however as much of a genius she was, she was also known to be cold and almost sadistic which is why not many were willing to work under her. When the report about the geth was made public, she was one of the first ones that jumped on board with Gerrel's plan to take back Rannoch, creating weapons specially designed to combat the geth. However the Admiral had other plans…she dreamed of the day where the geth returned under the control of the quarian people, a dream that was considered crazy until now.

Her omni-tool rang, Xen scoffed. "What is it Gerrel? I'm busy" She said.

"You might as well stop Xen, we won't be taking back our homeworld" he said. Xen looked at him and frowned.

"What? What the hell happened?" She asked.

"They've all voted to let our people colonize planets in the Terminus"

"The fools, even if we did colonize a new planet, it would take centuries for our immune systems to be strong enough to adapt to a foreign environment!" she said angrily. "Rannoch is only place we can be free from our suits"

"Don't you think I know that? Besides, that is not the only thing that bothers me, it's the fact Rael sided with the suit-wetters" Gerel said. "He's been acting strange since he was rescued from the Alarei, the fact that he proposed colonization still bothers me"

"The Alarei, huh?" Xen said. The Alarei, the ship were an army of rogue geth took over the ship and killed all the crew…well almost all the whole crew, Rael was able to survive against the synthetics until Tali and her allies rescued him. Although it was stated to be a tragic accident, Xen didn't believe the official reports and went back to the ship after it was cleared of the geth…there she found something interesting.

Gerrel frowned. "What's with that look, Xen? What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing you have to worry about, Gerrel? We shall talk soon"

"What are you…?" His com was shut off. Xen then raised her com.

"Yes admiral?"

"I want you to prepare a shuttle for the Rayya; I need to speak with Admiral Zorah"

"Yes ma'am!"

_**The Rayya**_

Rael return to his office, exhausted from meeting with the Admiral. As he sat down in his chair, he picked up a picture of his family, Ziva, his wife and a young Quarian girl in a bubble, his daughter, Tali. Things back then was so much simpler for the Admiral, he was with the woman he loved and their daughter was just born, he was a simple soldier, it was happier. Now, his wife was dead, his daughter hated him, and then there was that human.

_Shepherd started to glow. "Do whatever you want with your toy ships, but leave my crew out of your political bullshit!" Shepherd said angrily. "And yes I said my crew, because you don't deserve her, you can accept Tali's word or you can exile the woman who saved the galaxy from Sovereign and the geth, who proved how valuable the quarian people are to the galaxy!" The crowd was so moved by this alien, this stranger's passionate support of Tali'Zorah that one by one the crowed stood up roaring in support of Tali, the Admirals looked nervous. Shala desperately banged on the posts trying to get the crowd to settle down._

_"Order!" Shala said. "I will have order!" The crowd quieted down. "Are the admirals ready to render judgment?"_

_Tali looked down expecting the worst. "Tali'Zorah in light of your history of service, we do not find sufficient evidence to convict. You are cleared of all charges" Tali eyes went wide as she heard the verdict, her legs felt weak, Shepherd actually did it. Her father's sin would forever be a secret and she wouldn't be exiled. "Commander Shepherd, please accept our appreciation and our apology"_

_"I didn't defend one of you, I defended one of mine"_

_"So you did, Shepherd"_

_"This hearing is concluded. Go in peace Tali'Zorah vas Normandy. Keelah Se'lai" The crowd dispersed._

_Tali ran to Shepherd and hugged him. "I can't believe you pulled that off. What you said…"_

_"I meant every word" Tali hugged him. Kaiden, Garrus, and Lia came to them all happy with the verdict. Lia came hugging Tali as the two women laughed._

_"Congrats, Tali" Kaiden said. He smirked. "Nice work Wayne I think they pissed their suits"_

_Shepherd smirked. "I try" Rael came up to them. "What do you want?"_

_"Shepherd can I speak to you alone?" he asked. Shepherd looked at the rest of the team and nodded. The team went to the ship. _

_"We're alone, what do you want?"_

_"Thank you for what you did for my daughter" he said._

_Shepherd frowned. "A little late to be caring about her now, don't you think?"_

_"I did this for her! I wanted to…"_

_"Bullshit! All Tali wanted was her father, you! And you twisted her loyalty for your damn tests!" he said angrily. "If it wasn't for Tali, I'd kill you myself!"_

_He walked away. Rael spoke up. "Wait; tell me, what is my daughter to you?" He asked._

_"I love her, with all of my heart" Shepherd said. Rael looked him with wide eyes. "She deserves better" He walked away._

Rael sighed. "I know"

"I have to say, to see the great Admiral Zorah melancholy, is a rare treat"

Rael was snapped out of his thoughts when Xen walked in, he frowned, he didn't like Xen, and he never did there something about her that was off. Like she was poison to the fleet, but to keep the look of a united front he buried those feelings "What do you want, Xen? If it's about…."

"No, it's about you…"

"I have no time for your foolishness, Xen, why are you here?"

"I wanted to speak about the Alarei" Xen said. Rael flinched.

"What there to talk about? The geth infiltrated the ship, nothing more, nothing less"

Xen crossed her arms. "Yes, that old story, you should stop lying, Rael, it does not suit you"

"Are you just here to play games, you tispe?" He asked angrily.

"Playing games, funny you should say that" She activated her omni-tool.

_"Do we have enough parts to bring online?" Rael said._

_"Yes, the new shipment from your daughter will let us add to more geth to the network"_

_"We're nearing a breakthrough, Admiral; perhaps we should contact the Admiralty Board, just to be safe"_

_"No we're too close. I promised my wife and daughter a house on the homeworld. I'm not going to sit and wait while the politicians argue." He said._

_"We have an easier time of it if Tali'Zorah could send back more working materials"_

_"Absolutely not, I don't want Tali exposed from any political blowback" Rael said. "Leave her out of this, assemble the new geth with what we have, bypass security if need be" _

Rael looked back with wide eyes. "Where did you get that?!"

"Your daughter and her human toy were sloppy in erasing the data" Xen said with a cruel smirk. "I wonder how our people would react to such a crime, or the fact you lied about it. I wonder how much this would affect your daughter"

"She would be exiled along with you for trying to cover up your crime, add that to her relationship to her human captain, and well…"

"You wouldn't…."

"Don't be so naïve, Rael, of course I would…" She said.

Rael sighed in defeat. "What do you want, Xen?"

The mad admiral smirked.

_**The Migrant Fleet (The Skaza)**_

Two days later, he called all the admirals in for a meeting. Xen decided to join the meeting this time to make sure Rael did what she said. When he decided on war, Shala and Koris looked shocked, but Gerrel was absolutely ecstatic to see his old friend had come around. Korris slammed his fist on the table. "War? Just days ago, you were against this!" he said outraged.

"Gerrel is right, it would take years to colonize the planet, we have the best chance to defeat the geth and reclaim our homeworld"

"But, we don't have enough combat ready ships, or people" Koris said.

"Which is why, I'm enacting the emergency powers law"

Koris and Shala eyes widen, the Emergency powers law, it was law that was created when the geth first rebelled. Under this law, all power is given to the Admirals and the Admirals are immune from being removed from power even by other Admirals. After they were exiled the rule became less common as the Quarians stabilized, but evoke the powers meant the person was serious. "Rael, you do realize invoking that power do, right?"

Rael turned away. "I do"

Shala took a deep breath. "Then I will get the patrol fleet, ready then" she said walking away.

"I had thought that you had come to your senses, Rael, but I was wrong, I hope you enjoy your war" Korris said in disgust. He walked out of the room.

Gerrel walked up and patted Rael on the back. "That's the old friend I know, I will get the heavy fleet ready, and we will win this Rael" Rael didn't say anything, just nodded as Gerrel walked away, leaving him with Xen.

Rael glared at Xen. "Happy?"

Xen smirked. "More than you know, dear Rael"

Rael felt sick, but swallowed his anger. "Good, now the recording"

"You know, I think I'll keep it, we wouldn't want you to have any ideas…" Xen said walking away.

Rael lowered his head. "Shepherd, Tali forgive me…."

_**Tispe: Keelish for bitch**_

_**War born of blackmail! With the reapers coming, how will this affect the coming war?**_

_**Find out next time! As always Review and Comment.**_


	16. Chapter 16: Young Love, Old Wounds

**Chapter 16: Young Love, Old Wounds**

_**Toronto, Canada (Earth)**_  
Shepherd was in the gym having a sparring match with James, with Tali, Lia, and... lots of Alliance women watching, much to the chagrin of the two quarian women. Both men had their shirts off and sweating heavily, something that was not lost on the women, especially Tali and Lia.

With Shepherd in limbo, regarding his charge with the Bahak System up in the air, he had a lot of time on his hands as he had gain a lot more freedom. The two men circled each other looking for an opening, James made the first move with an incredibly face straight punch. Shepherd dodged right and got him in the side, James broke off before Shepherd followed it up. The larger human rubbed his side, Shepherd may have been smaller but he knew how to throw a punch.

"Come on Vega keep your arms up" Shepherd said going for a left hook. James ducked barely and retaliated with a right that caught Shepherd chin. The spectre flailed back but recovered and rubbed his jaw. Tali then spoke up.

"Come on, Wayne, you going to take that?!" Tali asked. "Kick his ass!"

"Go Jimmy!" They then looked at each other and glared at each other, usually the two Quarian women were best of friend, but when it came to the humans they liked, things could get…intense.

"Just watch, Wayne will get him next time" Tali said proudly.

"We'll see…" Lia said with a smirk. They continued to watch the sparring match, now knowing how hard the other can hit they were even more cautious.

"That's some hit Vega, not bad" Shepherd said with a smirk.

"Five time boxing champ back in high school" James said. "….Undefeated"

Shepherd whistled. "Not bad Vega, not bad, of course that won't help you here" he said with a smirk.

"Why?"

"Come at me and find out" Shepherd said. James cracked his neck and came at Shepherd with a vicious left hook, only for the spectre to duck and grab his arm and threw him. Because of the strength of his artificial arm, Shepherd had to make sure not toss him too far. James was tossed and landed on the mat on his back. Shepherd came over and looked down at him. "Well?" he asked.

James groaned and rubbed his bottom. "You win…" Shepherd smirked and helps the bigger man up. All of the sudden they were swarmed by their 'fans', Tali was not amused. Quarians when they bond with someone, they easily get jealous and territorial, Tali was no different. She got in front of Shepherd and glared at the women.

"Back off, bosh'tets, he's taken!" Tali growled. The women glared at Tali, they didn't believe that the most eligible man in the galaxy would be seen with a quarian, not when he could have any woman in the galaxy human or alien. Just then Shepherd came forward and wrapped an arm around the quarian woman with a smirk.

"Sorry ladies, but she's right" Shepherd said. He then lifted her up bridal style and carried her out the room. Tali looked back at the gob smacked women with a smug smirk, as they left the room. Lia walked over to James while he was wiping himself off, before she got to him some human women came to him, telling him how awesome he was or was giving out phone numbers. Lia huffed with jealousy, but soon perked up when James refused their advances and let them down easily. When women left, Lia approached him.

"Hey, Lola" James said with a smile.

Noticing James still didn't have a shirt on, Lia blushed and tried her best to not focus on his abs or his tattoos, or his scars…needless to say it was a battle she was losing badly. She cleared her throat. "I'm sorry you lost, you'll get him next time" Lia said.

James chuckled. "Somehow I doubt that…" he said. He then grew silent. "Hey Lia"

"Yeah?"

He then came closer, causing Lia to blush again. "How about that second date, I promised you?" Lia's eyes went wide.

"I…um…well…I mean" She stuttered. James smirked, he didn't know if it was a Quarian thing or if it was just her thing, but he found it cute.

"Well?" Before Lia could give her answer, James' omni-tool beeped. He looked at his omni-tool and his eyes widen.

"Jimmy?" Lia asked.

"Can we put this on hold for a little?" James asked. Lia nodded, she welcomed this she didn't want to embarrass herself even more than she has.

James smiled and kissed her hand, causing Lia to blush again. "Thanks Lola" he said walking away. "But I do expect an answer"

_**Shepherd's room**_

Lia ran to Shepherd's room, to get Tali, she really needed the older Quarian's advice on dating humans. She's had crushes on male humans before on Terra Nova when she was young, but they never really went anywhere due to it being frowned on by some people on the colony. And with quarian males, she tended to be seen as a sisterly type or one of the boys due to her tomboyish nature, so she really didn't have experience with something serious. When she came in, she instantly covered her eyes, Shepherd and Tali was in the middle of being intimate.

Shepherd looked at Lia and paled. "Oh shit, Lia!" The spectre quickly got off of Tali and Tali covered herself, looking rather annoyed at the younger Quarian.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" Lia said franticly. Shepherd and Tali got dressed with Lia turning her back.

"You can look now" Shepherd said. Lia slowly turned around, and much to her relief they were dressed, annoyed but dressed.

"I'm sorry" she said.

Tali sighed. "You have the worse timing" Shepherd nodded in agreement. "What is it?"

Lia blushed and played with her fingers. "James just…."

"Just what?"

"Asked me out on a second date" Lia said. "I need advice"

_**Spaceport**_

James was at the terminal, he was waiting for someone, and he looked around and saw a skinny dark man in an Orange shirt, brown cargo pants, and black boots walking towards him. It was best friend, Steven Cortez; they had known each other since they were little kids ever since his uncle took him in after his parent's death. Cortez was the calm type, always thinking before acting which was the opposite of James who like to act first and then think about the consequences later. There were so many times where he got in trouble and Cortez bailed him out.

"Estaban" He said giving the smaller man a hug.

"Hey, James" he said with a small smile. The two men took a seat.

"It's good to see you, man, what are you doing here?"

"I was picked by the committee, about being the new pilot of the Normandy" he said. "But then they changed their minds, so I 'm on ship maintenance, it was so weird"

James chucked. "It's the committee, what do you expect?" He then grew serious. "How are you, hermano?"

Cortez lowered his head. "What do you want me to say, James? I lost the man I loved, my heart, and it's all my fault"

"No, it's not man…"

"If it wasn't for me, he wouldn't have to sacrifice himself "he said with tears in his eyes. Robert was Cortez's husband, they had met when they were in high school, James and Robert played for the same football team. Robert was the shy type of guy, he had a crush on Cortez but never had the guts to ask him out until James pushed him to ask him out. They gotten married after college, where James was the best man, some three years later they enlisted into the Alliance. Robert and Cortez truly belonged together, they were was almost sickly sweet when together, James absolutely thought they were going to grow old together, but life had other plans…"It should have been me…"

James frowned and grabbed his collar. "And what good would that have been, huh?!" He asked. "If it wasn't Robert, it would have been you, and I still would have lost a friend, he wouldn't want to see you like this, remember your promise"

_**Months ago-Ferris Fields**_

_Ferris Fields was a colony in the Terminus Systems, the planet had a very beautiful tropical environment which made it a huge tourist attraction, and however it was also a huge target for pirates and slavers. Luckily, the colony was one of the few in the Terminus Systems that gotten along with the Alliance and because of that had a huge presence on the colony which was how Cortez and Robert came here. When they were stationed to the colony, Cortez and Robert had thought they had found a place where they could build a life. _

_That was until the Collectors came…Robert and Cortez was ordered to evaluate the colonists while the soldiers tried to fight them off. However the Alliance underestimated how strong the Collectors were and was soon overrun. Meanwhile the Collectors had Robert and Cortez surrounded, the civilians ran for the shuttle the civilians Cortez was driving while Robert was protecting it. However some of them were either paralyzed by the seeker swarms or gunned down by the Collectors. Several of the Collectors surrounded a family until Robert mowed them down with is assault rifle. More were coming as Robert gave the colonists time to get on the shuttle. _

"_Robert, they're all on board! Get in"_

"_On my way!" He said. Robert shot more of the Collectors and then ran for the Shuttle. More of the Collectors flew in, with one of them starting to glow yellow._

"_YOU PROLONG THE INEVITABLE! ASCENSION AWAITS!" The Collector started to glow._

"_Robert behind you!" Cortez yelled. Robert looked back to counterattack, but the yellow energy hit Robert in the chest hard, he fell to the ground. "NO!" The collectors were closing in on Robert; Cortez ran to gun rack and grabbed a rifle._

"_Steve, stay away! Get those civilians out of here!" He said in pain._

"_But..." Robert got off the ground and went to cover. He shot several of the collectors, trying to keep them from the shuttle. More kept coming; if this kept up there would be no escape for all of them. Robert then became eerily calm, he knew what he had to do. _

"_Get them out of here Steve, I'll…I'll give you time to escape"_

"_No don't…" Cortez said._

"_I Love you, but I know you, don't make me an anchor" Robert said. "Please, I want you move on, be happy, don't waste your life mourning me…"_

"_My life is nothing without you, you're my life, please don't do this to me!" Cortez said in tears. It pained Robert to hear him say that, but he knew that he had to get them out of there; Cortez would stay there for him, he couldn't let that happen. Robert opened his omni-tool and activated the autopilot for the shuttle. "Nonononono! Robert!" _

"_I love you, Steve…always" The shuttle flew away, leaving Cortez's husband to his fate. One of the collectors fired and got Robert in the shoulder, and the soldier fell back in the mud as the Collectors kept on advancing. He saw the seeker swarms flying towards his husband's location. _

"_ROBERT, ROBERT!" Cortez said banging on the doors. He then saw light and smoke…over near Robert's location, Cortez just watched as walked back to wall as he slumped on the wall with tears in his eyes. One of the civilians came close to him and put his hand on Cortez's shoulder, and then another until he finally broke down, crying in anguish over the loss of his husband. _

_**Now-Spaceport**_

"I remember" He said softly. James put his hand on Cortez's shoulder; they had both been through a lot. Back on Omega, he was a wreck…he was just letting himself waste away and drunk because he get past his guilt, if it wasn't for Anderson who knows what would have happened to him. He refused to let Cortez, go through that, especially when it wasn't his fault.

"I know it's hard, but I'll help too, he was my friend just like you" he said. "So if you need anything, just ask"

Cortez wiped his tears and chuckled softly. "That's strangely adult of you, now I'm scared"

James smiled. "Now that's the old smartass Estaban, I missed" He then looked at his omni-tool. "We better get back, I'm kinda supposed to watch Shepherd, and he's still technically on house arrest" The two friends went back to the base.

_**Alliance Committee Building**_

Back at in Shepherd's room, Lia was taking notes on dating humans. There was lots of interesting subjects, but the most interesting on was the kissing, she's never been kissed before other than her parents. Although Shepherd like James, he reminded her to call him if James got out of hand and he would set him straight, which was welcomed but not needed. Tali came up to Lia and put her hand on the young quarian's shoulder. "Just remember, be yourself Lia" Tali said.

Lia hugged Tali and Shepherd. "Thanks, you two" she said walking away.

Tali chuckled. Shepherd looked at her. "What is it?"

"James got his hand full, once Lia starts to bond with him" she said. "Quarians are quite territorial when it comes to their mates…"

"Yep, and that's not getting into Kasumi, she's very protective of her 'little sister'" Shepherd said. "Oh well he should be fine, I survived you didn't I?"

Tali elbowed Shepherd. "Bosh'tet…" Shepherd chuckled and rubbed his stomach and they went back to bed to finish what they started. As Lia was walking down the hallways, thinking about what Tali said, she bumped into something big and fell down.

"Keelah, I'm sorry" She said looking up. It was James, she blushed. "Jimmy! I'm sorry!"

James helped her up. "No problem Lola, barely a scratch" Lia then noticed another man with him and she tilted her head. He was smaller than James, and darker.

"Jimmy who is this?" she asked. Cortez held out his hand and smiled.

"Steve Cortez, I'm an old friend of James, nice to meet you" He said.

"Lia" She said taking his hand.

Cortez chuckled. "So you're Lia…" He smirked back at James. "You were right, she is cute" Lia blushed at that, James cleared his throat and looked away as he blushed. Cortez was getting a kick at their bashfulness at each other; it was very much like how he and Robert were in the past. "I take it you want to talk to him, so I'll leave you to it"

"Sure you don't need help, Estaban?" James asked.

"No thanks, I'll see you later" Cortez said. "Be on your best behavior, 'Jimmy'" He walked away leaving James and Lia.

James rolled his eyes. "Whatever…." He looked at Lia." So you wanted to talk?"

Lia played with her fingers, trying to get her thoughts together. She took a deep breath. "Um…well….about the date"

"Can't make it…?" James asked sadly.

Lia stood at attention thinking that came out wrong. "No, No, I would love to go with you" She said. "Just where can we go?"

"I know this great place downtown, we can go there"

"But what about Shepherd? Won't you get in trouble?"

"Nah, I can get someone to cover for me" James said. "So, tomorrow night?"

Lia smiled. "Okay"

James took her and hand kissed it. "Looking forward to it" he said with a smile.

_**Looks like things are heating up for Lia and James. Will their date be a success or a bust?**_

_**Just a reminder: Got a request, let me know and I will put it in the story as long as it is after Mass effect 2 but before Mass effect 3.**_

_**Find out next time! As always Review and Comment.**_


	17. Chapter 17: Date Night

**Chapter 17: Date Night**

_**The Normandy**_

Lia was nervous, to say the least, she was going to go on her date with James. She had grown quite fond of the human when talked to him on her omni-tool, but this time she felt something more for the large human and that scared the crap out of her. She looked in the mirror for what must have been the third or fourth time, seeing if there was something she needed to improve, though it was hard to see with her suit on. Then she thought about the kissing…and she froze up, kissing meant taking off her mask, taking off her mask meant letting James see her face. What if he didn't find her attractive? She had seen quarian couples break-up after years of being together due to revealing their faces to each other, though Tali had told her that quarian women were considered attractive to human males, but what did she know? Shepherd is the only man she ever showed her face to. So many things could go wrong on this date…best to bail out now and save them the both the trouble…She was about to open her omni-tool, until she saw a hand laid on hers.

"Damn Lia, will you just relax?" Kasumi asked.

"I can't Kasumi, I mean what if I mess up, what if I say something stupid?" she asked nervously.

"But you shouldn't be nervous; didn't you say you went on a date with him before, on Illium?" Tali asked.

"But that wasn't really a date, it was more me paying him back for helping me" she said. "This is something else differently; I mean what if he doesn't like me?"

Kasumi came over and put her hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, he does, you're a great girl" she said. "He would be lucky to have you"

Tali smiled. "I felt the same way when I started dating Wayne"

Lia looked at her. "Really? But you and Shepherd make it look so easy"

The older Quarian chuckled. "Only because we worked to make it last" she said. "A relationship with a human is not easy, and I had my share of doubts too, but in the end it was worth it"

She then smirked. "Very worth it"

Kasumi looked at her. "Ok, ew, like I need to hear about my cousin and his girlfriend doing the nasty"

"Uh sorry, look the fact that he took the time to know you, means a lot, you'll be fine"

Lia hugged her two older sisters. "Thank you" She walked out of the room, and took a deep breath, she took the elevator and went to the meeting spot.

_**James' Apartment**_

Meanwhile not far from the Committee building, James was getting ready too and he was equally nervous. Lia was unlike anyone he's met before, he enjoyed talking to her, and he wanted to be with her. While he wasn't new to the dating scene, dating an alien was like starting over; he felt like a teenager again on his first date.

"James chill, it's a date, not a job interview" Cortez said.

"I want this to be perfect" James said.

"I have to say, I'm kinda impressed, I mean you usually just let your muscles and your charm do the work, but now you're putting a lot of effort in this"

James sighed. "There's a reason, Esteban, you know me well enough to know that I don't have the best track record with women" he said. "I mean remember Maggie?"

Maggie Pearson, she was the school slut, everyone in school knew that. She screwed every guy that moved, there were even rumors that some of the male faculty had done her. James being James…, who could only see the good in people, dated her, not knowing she was dating a guy from a rival on the side. She was only found out when Robert decided to record them going into the movies while Cortez and Robert was on a date. "I told you that bitch was bad news" Cortez said.

"Then there's Sasha…" Sasha Wong, the woman who prided herself on being the queen bee, as she was the most popular girl in College, brains, beauty, and she was loaded. Every guy wanted her and James was no exception, however the girl was famous for being a heavy partyer, her father Isaac Wong was getting sick of her antics decided to cut her off. This pissed her off and so she decided to date someone who her father wouldn't approve of…James was the perfect fit, due to his background. She even lies to her father that she was going to elope with James, stupid yes, but then again rich people often falls into that category. Her father backed down, and James was dumped the next week.

"Miss Daddy problems, only dated you to piss off her rich father" he said. "Pettiest little thing I have ever met"

"And let's not forget Tamera…"

Cortez shuddered. "She was a horror story, even before the drugs, you gave her all those chances and she still left you for the red sand"

"Which is why I want this to be perfect, I mean Lia is too good to be true" James said. "Especially for a fuck up like me…"

Cortez put a hand on his shoulder. "You'll do fine, unlike your other dates, I actually like this one" He then looked at his omni-tool. "You better go, you'll be late"

_**Downtown Toronto**_

Lia was on the corner waiting for James, she was still nervous, but thanks to the talk from earlier she wasn't as nervous. As she waited, the humans around her stared at her, some with looks of confusion or curiosity, it made sense, most of them never seen a Quarian before. And then there was the look of a suspicion that she was used to, she feel small under their gaze.

"Hey, Lola" Lia jumped when she heard a voice behind her. "Whoa, sorry sorry, didn't mean to startle you"

"Oh Jimmy, don't worry about it, just new to this" Lia examined James; he had on a grey buttoned down shirt, grey slacks and dress shoes. The quarian blushed, she thought he looked handsome, and then she looked at herself and started to curse her immune system. She wished she could wear something other than her suit for once, but life didn't work that way. James spoke up.

"Ready to start?" he asked. Lia nodded and they walked down the street. As they walked, Lia saw other couples, and saw how they interacted, some of them were holding hands, but the one she was interested in was the couples who had their arms around each other.

"Should I try that….?" She asked to herself. Lia put her arm around the waist of James, he looked at her and she quickly relented. "S-sorry!" James just smiled and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, causing her to blush.

"Don't worry about, we are on a date" he said. Lia smiled and wrapped her arm around his waist again. "Feels nice, right?"

"Right" They made it to their first stop, a movie theater, it seemed old. They went inside of the building, the smell of popcorn, and other foods filled the air. There were a lot of people in there, though the lines were short. They came up to the booth.

"So, what should we see?" James asked. Lia looked at all the choices, none of them she had ever heard of before, human movies weren't as wide-spread in the galaxy even on a human colony like Terra Nova. She then pointed at one of the posters.

"How about that?" James looked at the poster and then back at her.

"Nightmare on Elm Street, you sure about this Lia?" the Quarian nodded. "Alright…" That turned out not to be such a good idea on her part, good thing about horror movies it makes you closer to your date, bad thing about horror movies, the nightmare's afterwards.

Lia shuddered. "Remind me to never do horror movies again" They were walking down the street where James was laughing, in fact he hadn't stopped laughing since they left. The Quarian huffed and crossed her arms. "I hardly find this funny, Jimmy"

"Don't blame me, you were the one covering her eyes through most of the movie" James said amused. Lia turned her back, and James wrapped his arms around her. It felt good to be in his embrace, he was really making it hard for her to stay made. "Okay, I'm sorry, but I will say this, you were cute that's for sure"

Lia blushed. "I…well….that's….um thank you" she then heard her stomach growling. "Uh, I think we should eat…"

"Yeah, I got just the place…" The couple was then in front of a restaurant called the Goddess Café in downtown Toronto, the restaurant was asari owned, but specialized in levo and dextro foods. The human woman at the entrance looked at the couple strange as it was her first time she seen a interspecies couple other than asari or turian. Nevertheless she guided them to a booth in the front and gave out the menus. Lia looked at her menu, turian soup and meats, it had been a long time since she had real food and not reserves, they even sterilize it, then her eyes went wide.

"Keelah, just look at these prices, Jimmy are you sure we should eat here?" she asked concerned.

"Don't worry about it, Cortez hooked us up, he's friends with the owner" James said. "Speak of the devil"

"Not a very nice thing to say to someone whose giving you a discount" Lia looked back and saw an asari in a red shirt and a short black skirt she was wearing black high heel shoes. She was dark blue with light purple markings on her face, the asari looked at her and smiled. "Oh, and whose this cute thing?"

"Back off Zerri, Lia's my date" James warned.

Zerri gave an amused smirk. "Defensive aren't you?"

"No cautious, Cortez warned me you like to flirt with the customers"

Zerri scoffed. "What's the point of owning a business, if you can have some fun?" she asked. "Besides, I'm not like that anymore, bondmate you know, so what will you have?" After talking for a while their food finally got to their table. She had turian meats that had been turned into paste and James had something call a T-bone steak which didn't look that appealing to her. She tried her food and her eyes lit up.

"Oh Keelah! I didn't think it was possible, but they made nutrient paste tasty" Lia said.

"I take it's hard for you to eat actually food?" James asked.

"No, not as hard as Tali, you see I'm not from the Migrant Fleet, I'm an anuk" Lia said.

"I'm sorry what?"

"It means the child of exiles in Keelish, I come from a quarian commune on Terra Nova" she said. "Because I lived on a planet all my life, my immune system is much stronger"

"So how come I don't see you out of your suit?"

"I still need it, Quarian immune systems are still inherently weak, and if you're from the Migrant Fleet even more so"

James lowered his head. "So being with me is dangerous to you…" he said sadly.

"Not really…from what I hear from Tali, humans cause less of a reaction to Quarians" she said. Lia then blushed. "I know it firsthand"

"How?"

"I sorta walked in on them one time…" James laughed hard. "It's not funny, it was very awkward"

James stopped. "Sorry, so Terra Nova, huh?"

"Yeah why?'

"You just seem to get human phases better than Sparks"

"Of course, I've talked to humans since I was born" Lia said. "Wait, Sparks?"

"Tali, she seems excitable, you know, like sparks" James said. "Some people just don't fit their names, you know?"

Lia giggled. "You are a strange human, you know that?"

James smirked. "Like you should talk" they laughed and talked the rest of the night. After a while they took a walk in a park, it started to feel natural being together, not awkward like in the beginning, it felt right. Lia had to wonder if this was what Tali felt when she was with Shepherd. James spoke up.

"It's beautiful…" Lia looked at him. "The stars…I used to look out in the sky when I was kid and just looked at the stars"

"Is that the reason you joined Alliance?" Lia asked.

"The adventure was part of it, but it was mostly because I needed to get away…" he said. "My life wasn't what you called the greatest; my dad was an abusive drunk, who always needed some excuse to beat me or my mom up"

"Keelah…" she gasped.

"The scar on my face, I got it when I was ten, one day my dad just snapped, and came at me with a knife" he said solemnly. "He said I was a failure, and how he regretted I was ever born, mom came home and saw me on the ground and my face all bloodied up, and tried to stop him, but gotten stabbed multiple times"

"What did you do?"

"I shot him with a gun I saved up to buy" he said. He then laughed bitterly. "Most kids save money for a stupid toy or game they wanted, but I bought a gun because I was so fucking scared of my father"

"And your mom…"

"Died in the hospital, with one of her arteries cut, she bled out…" James said. "There I was orphaned at ten"

"There must have been someone…"

James smiled briefly. "My tio, Carlos Garcia, my mom's brother" he said. "He's the only one that kept my life from going into a death spiral, it was because of him that I joined the Alliance, he made me see I was better than the experiences in my life" Lia smiled.

"I'm glad…that you joined the Alliance" she said. "Otherwise, we wouldn't have met…"

James smiled. "I'm glad too" After a while they went back to the base.

"So, we're here…" Lia said.

"Yep…" The couple just stood there, waiting for the next move of the other. Lia spoke.

"So what happens now? I mean we've been on a real date and…."

"There's something between us, I don't know" He said. "Both of us are in a pretty complicated situation with Shepherd"

"Oh"

"But I do know, I want to see you again, if you're willing" Lia smiled and pounced him. James chuckled. "I take it, that's a yes" He then heard a hiss; it was Lia taking off her face plate.

"Wow…" James was awestruck at how beautiful Lia was, her face was a light purple with dark lines running across the bridge of her nose. Her hair was short and white, Lia looked bashful as James examined her face. She smiled nervously revealing some sharp canines, which seemed opposite of her sweet nature. But it was her eyes that caught his attention, Lia's eyes were solid white with no pupils with added to her alien features but no less detracted from her beauty. He then snapped back to reality.

"Lola, won't you get sick?"

"A little, but this is worth it" Lia pulled James in for a deep kiss on the lips, James blinked but then wrapped his arms around her waist as he returned the kiss. Time seemed to stop for them, as their passions heat up,they stopped catching their breath, any longer kissing and the quarian really would get sick. Lia put her face plate back on and got off of him. She smiled as she went inside. "Goodnight, Jimmy…"

James smiled back. "Goodnight, Lola" As James walked back with to his apartment with huge grin on his face, he then jumped up and yelled at the top of his lungs:

"THIS IS THE GREATEST DAY OF MY LIFE!"

_**See you Next Time! As always Review and Comment.**_


	18. Chapter 18: The Fall of Omega

**Chapter 18: The Fall of Omega**

_**Elbrus **_

Petrovsky and Ashe were watching the battle for Omega unfold; it had been three months since the initial invasion of the space station. It was thought the battle would be quick due to their weapons and the fact that Omega was a station of disorganized thugs, the reality turned out to be much different. The residents of Omega were holding their own, and worse they were pushing them back, as it turned out, Aria T'Loak was not called the Empress for nothing.

"Sir this is bad, we losing ground fast" Ashe said. "It won't be long until Omega is a lost cause"

Petrovsky stayed relatively calm, but it was obvious he was getting annoyed. "The war isn't over until the last bullet falls"

"Then what is your suggestion?" he asked.

"How do you defeat a kingdom?" Petrovsky asked. "You kill the king, or in this case the queen"

"But if the queen's too strong?" The old general gave a cruel smirk. "Scorched earth…what do you need me to do?"

"Buy me time, Aria will learn to fear Cerberus"

"Permission to take the Dragoon Squadron?"

"You have it" Petrovsky said. "Have fun, 'Devil of Shanxi'"

Ashe gave a sadistic grin and glowed blue. "Of course general" The Colonel walked out of the room to get his team ready, while Petrovsky opened the com.

_**Omega-Ashla District**_

Screams filled the air, as civilians were running from the Adjutants, a human child tripped trying to escape and the husks came close until it was gunned down by the Eclipse mercs giving the boy a chance to run. A lone Asari ripped through the husks easily; Sederis was in the Ashla District, the most populous district on Omega on damage control ordered by Aria. She truly hated that she had to take orders from her rival, and that put Sederis in a foul mood but fortunately she could take it out on the enemy. "Send out the mechs, crush them!" Sederis ordered.

One after the other YMIR mechs dropped out of the sky and activated. They then ripped the Adjutants apart with their rocket fire and guns. The asari glowed blue and launched a shockwave in the middle of the Adjutant horde, cutting their numbers. The Adjutants climbed over their dead and continued their attack; some of them shifted over to the left flank and infected some of Sedris' men. Before the former eclipse mercs could finish transforming, several pyros burned their former allies along with the Adjutants, they screeched as they were burned alive. The LOKI and FENNIR mechs took their place at the left flank.

One of Sederis men came up. "Sir, the rampart mechs are tearing up alpha squad in the east wing, they need reinforcements"

"Send some engineers and some heavies to deal with them" she said.

"Sir" A rampart mech came up to Sederis and lifted by the asari and tossed like a rag doll into the approaching Adjutants. The Pyros came up ahead and blasted them with a stream of flames while the YMIR mechs backed them up with rocket fire.

Sederis scoffed. "The sooner we're done with this area, the better…I don't enjoy babysitting"

_**Luzu District (Omega)**_

Meanwhile Darner Vosque and his blue suns were cleaning up the district. Despite the Adjutants numbers, they weren't intelligent and that was giving Omega a fighting chance. "Heavies, at the ready! Fire!" he ordered. The Blue sun heavies lined up in a row and fired their weapons, and cut the Adjutants numbers in half.

"Engineers, lock them down" Vosque said. The engineers held out their arms and drones appeared and floated up to Adjutants stunning them with their stun weapons. At the top of the apartment balconies, Blue Sun snipers picked them off one by one while the heavies continued to blow a hole in their numbers. One of Voaque's men walked up to him.

"Sir, we got a message from Sederis, she's sending LOKI mechs our way" one of his men said. "Including some reprogrammed ramparts"

Vosque smirked. "She keeps this up and I may forget to kill the bitch" he said. "Get those mech on the front lines, now!"

_**Afterlife**_

Back at Afterlife, Aria was on her throne directing her troops; so far they were pushing back Cerberus troops out of some of the districts. But it was a slow process, for every Adjutant they kill, two more take their place. The Rampart mechs, weren't much a problem as they were being reprogrammed to fight for their side. Her men came up to her. "Give me a status report" Aria said.

"Sedris' men are holding steady with only twelve casualties and six turned" Grizz said. "Vosque is almost done in his area"

"Our men?" she asked.

"Patriarch has met up with Kreete's group and are clearing the Strom district as we speak" he said. "Garka, was in trouble in the Gozu district, but the Talons came in with back up and are turning the tide."

"Nyreen again…I hate to say, but I guess I owe her" she said. She then heard footsteps approaching. Aria looked at the stairway reading her biotics; he then saw batarians gripping a much blooded Sanak. He was a mess, his armor was practically wrecked, one of his mandibles was torn off, and his leg was shot to hell and bleeding, he was lucky to be conscious.

"Aria, we got trouble!"

"What is it?"

_**Himlen District-Moments ago**_

_The district was a bloody mess, as hard as he and his men tried, Sanak's platoon was wiped out. They had killed all of the Adjutants in the district, and were waiting for further instructions from Aria until they were ambushed by a squad led by a Human in white and black armor. He thought he and his squad could repel them, but they were overwhelmed by their strange biotics, in just a short time everyone was dead, except him…_

"_Shit!" He said as he coughed up his blue blood. He then felt a hard stomp on his battered leg. "AHH!"_

_Ashe scoffed. "I can't believe we're losing to scum like you…" he said. "Oh well, it won't matter in the next couple of hours"_

_Sanak gasped in pain, he trying hard to keep conscience. "What are you talking about?"_

_Ashe crouched down and faced him, he never seen a person with such cold eyes before, not even the most battle-hardened of his people had eyes like him. He didn't have the look of a warrior, but the look of something much worse, a sadist, a murderer. "Tell me turian, do you know what scorched earth means?" he asked. "What am I talking about of course you do, you had practice on Shanxi"_

"_Crazy bastard, what are you talking about?"_

"_Get Aria here"_

"_Like you can defeat the Empress…" he said with a pained laugh. "The arrogance of you people is becoming so suicidal, that it's funny"_

_Ashe glared at the turian and gave him a swift biotic kick in the ribs. Sanak landed hard against the wall "Instead of taunting me you should take this offer, it's prolonging your already short life" He walked away._

_**Omega**_

Aria frowned. "What's his game?"

Sanak coughed. "I don't know, all he was babbling about was something about scorched earth, he didn't seem worried about his army" he said. "All he wanted was you"

"Well he's got me" She said walking away. Grizz spoke up.

"Are you sure, boss? This reeks of a trap" he said.

"A Cerberus colonel is on the station, and he can lead me to that asshole" she said. "I'm not passing this up"

"Boss, just be careful, he and his men uses a weird kind of biotics" Sanak said. "We couldn't escape it, even in cover"

"Noted" Aria said. She then looked at the batarian. "Patch him up"

_**Elbrus**_

Petrovsky continued to wait for the signal, until he heard one of his men speak up. "What is it?"

"We received some word from on our man on the ground and it's interesting information"

"What?"

"It seems the Empress has friends in dark places, those reinforcements that seemed to come from nowhere, we found the source"

"Who?"

"The Shadow Broker"

Petrovsky frowned. "Contact the Illusive man" The man saluted.

"Yes Sir" He then heard a beep from his console.

"This is Cerberus crusier, Behemoth, awaiting your orders general"

"This is Hades, awaiting your orders"

"This is Anubis, awaiting your orders" The order requests came flooding in at rapid pace. The old general gave a smirk.

_**Omega (Himlen District)**_

Aria came to the coordinates that Sanak gave him; he saw the bodies of the turian's men and some civilians around the area. The Cerberus operative picked this area to intimidate her, Aria scoffed at his pathetic attempt, she's seen centuries of death some more unspeakable than others. "So you finally came, I was wondering when you were coming" Ashe said. Aria turned around and saw her target, the colonel and surrounding him were his men all decked out in the same white and black armor as him.

"Where is that old bastard?" Aria asked.

Ashe smirked. "Beat me and we'll see" he said. "Attack!" The Dragoons charged, from their hands came yellow glowing tendrils, one of them swung their arms and the asari dodged, but when the tendrils collided with the ground a small shockwave pushed her back. More of them attacked, swinging their biotic tendrils, Aria couldn't afford to dodge and just summoned a barrier to take the blow. When the tendril struck her barrier, she was blown back and hit the wall. Aria got up and growled, she threw a warp field at the one of the dragoons, but when it hit, the field dissipated.

"What?!"

"That's the newest line of armor from our R&D division, absorbs the some of the strongest bioics around" Ashe said. "You'll have to do better than that" A blue lash came from right side, and she dodged it, barely and it cut a stone block easily in half. Aria glared, at the man as he retracted the tendril back to his armor with a grin on his face. The human was enjoying Aria having trouble with his men. "Oh, and watch your pretty little head…" Aria got out her assault rifle and fired at then while getting to cover, but bullets flew off of them like it was nothing.

The Dragoons counted with another lash, Aria dodged but was pushed back by the shockwave afterwards. The others followed suit, and the asari dashed to cover using her biotics. "Shit need to think of something" She looked around and saw a canister near them and shot it. The canister blew up and sent one of them falling back. "One down…" Another lash came at her and turned her cover into rubble. She ran out of cover towards other canisters, before she could get there another lash hit just in front of her, she glared at Ashe.

"Uh-uh! We wouldn't want you to play dirty now" The Dragoons were closing in on the asari and with no cover she was a sitting duck. Aria growled, she absolutely refused to be embarrassed by this pathetic human, she survived centuries of hardship before and after she became leader of the station, she wouldn't Cerberus make a mockery of her. Her eyes glowed blue and a huge biotic force appeared and blew away the dragoons. Ashe went from a smug smirk to a shocked look on her face. "What?!"

"You little fucker, you messed with the wrong bitch!" She said raising her arm. Another force blew away the ledge Ashe was standing on. She walked towards the downed human.

Ashe groaned. "That's not possible, the armors were designed to take biotic attacks!"

"Then you got some testing to do, unfortunately you won't get that chance" Aria said. Before she got to the human, the station shook. "What the hell is that?" her comm beeped.

"Aria we got trouble, Cerberus has called multiple ships, and they're targeting us"

"What?!" As she was speaking on her omni-tool, she didn't notice a lone Adjutant sneaking up on her. She heard a howl and ducked out of the way, however Colonel Ashe was not so lucky.

"Nonono…..NO!" Ashe yelled as he started to transform into an Adjutant.

"End of the road…" Aria glowed blue and a huge biotic field appeared when the smoke cleared, only a crater was left. Aria sighed, but then her comm beeped, it was Petrovsky.

"You!"

"So you defeated Colonel Ashe, impressive Miss T'Loak, but this game is over"

Aria growled. "Fuck you, it's not over, until you're dead!"

"Stubborn asari…you have nothing left, right now I have fifteen Cerberus cruisers all aimed at this station" He said. "If I want to, I could destroy Omega floor by floor…"

"You wouldn't…"

"I was willing sacrifice my second in command, the man you just killed, I think can erase this miserable cesspool" Petrovsky said. "You have an hour to make your decision"

"Shit!" Hours later after much debate, many of her men had wanted to continue fighting, but Aria knew differently there was no way to continue fighting. The Empress of Omega had lost; four hundred year of being in control was down the drain. Her omni-tool beeped, and Petrovsky appeared smug from his victory, it pissed her off.

"Well? Your hour is up, you decision" the human said.

Aria gritted her teeth. "You win…I…give up Omega"

Petrovsky smirked. "Wise move, Miss T'Loak…wise move"

_**Elbrus**_

Back on the ship, as he watches the asari and several of her men leave her beloved station; he had gotten a call, the Illusive Man. "Congratulation on your victory, General" he said.

"Of course sir, unfortunately, we had lost Colonel Ashe, and half of the ground forces had been decimated" he said. "They put up more of a fight than I thought"

"Acceptable losses, we can always rebuild…" Illusive Man said. "Round up the humans, add them to the super soldier program"

"Sir, and if there is any resistance?"

"Then restore order"

"And what about the Shadow Broker?" The general asked.

"Do not worry; I have others, to deal with this…" Petrovsky nodded as the Illusive Man disconnected, the General looked out the screen as Aria's ship became smaller. He knew this was not over; Aria was as stubborn as she was formidable, she would find a way to recover…and when she did, she would try to recover the station. When that happens, he would be ready. He opened a com.

"This is General Petrovky to all ships, I want ships on the outer perimeter to patrol the mass relay, the rest of you are to patrol Omega, if you have any soldiers to spare I want them on the station to keep order, and I want it done yesterday"

_**Aria's Ship**_

The gang felt defeated, victory was in their grasp, and at the last minute it was taken away. Grizz sighed. "So what do we do?"

"We go to the Citadel" Aria said. Grizz and Garka blinked.

"No offence boss, but I doubt C-sec and the Council are just going to waltz in" the batarian said.

"You'd be surprised how much pull I have outside of Omega" She said. "Now get back to work"

"Yes ma'am!" Aria went to her cabin, and stared at Omega as it got smaller and smaller from view. Her biotics then started to flare up, from the rage she felt at losing her kingdom, the glass of water near her shattered from her biotic force.

"Enjoy it while you can, because I will get it back…."

_**Omega has fallen and Liara is next! **_

_**If you got a request, let me know and I'll put it in the story :)**_

_**Next time! As always, Review and Comment.**_


	19. Chapter 19: Blood

**Chapter 19: Blood**

_**Benning**_

She was running, hard than she had ever ran before, it was all she could do she wasn't biotic like her sister, nor was she a soldier like Commander Shepherd. But she wished to god she was, she could have saved her parents, instead she saw them die. When she thought she lost the men pursuing her, she sat down to take a breather.

"Miranda…I need you…I'm scared" Orianna said. How did this happen to her? Why were they after her? She was just an ordinary girl, nothing special about her. And to think it all started off as a normal day…

_**Hours earlier**_

Orianna's alarm rang, she struggled to get up, she wasn't much of a morning person, but then the sleep got her again.

"Ori…time to get up, baby!"

"Um, okay mom!" It was a pain, but she got up and got ready for classes at her university. She opened the windows in her room, the sun was shining bright and Orianna smiled. At first she was upset about having to move from Illium to Benning, she missed the hustle and bustle of the asari colony but things were getting expensive on Illium. Benning was like culture shock, it was just so quiet, the only sound she could here was the local wildlife and it was slow people here weren't in any rush like on Illium but after a while she had gotten used to it. After getting out of the shower, her omni-tool rang; she smiled and presses the button,

"Miri!" she said. Miranda smiled.

It had been only a few months since she found out that she had an older sister, at first she didn't know what to think, she thought Miranda was just a strange lady, until she showed her a picture of her cradling a little girl, her. She had heard the story, of how they were poor orphans from the streets, Miranda made the painful decision of letting Orianna go, and that was how Alice and Michal Jameson came to adopt her. Her mom and dad were skeptical at first, but after a while they welcomed Miranda into the family.

"Hey Ori, How are you settling in?" she asked.

"Good! The house is huge! Seems so big for me."

"Trust me, you deserve it" Miranda said. "How are your studies going?"

Orianna groaned. "Come on sis; let my mom worry about that stuff…"

Miranda crossed her arms. "Ori..."

She sighed. "Fine… I still don't like Genetic Theory, but I want to understand everything y'know? Physics and Math all seem to breeze by."

"Your mark in Late 20th Century Earth History is below the standard deviation. Why?"

Orianna blinked. "How did…oh no you hacked my records didn't you?" Miranda rubbed her head sheepishly, as she found out later; Miranda was smart…like super smart. And what was eerie she felt like she always knew this, like a weird twin sixth sense almost. Oriana then groaned, her sister meant well, but sometime she can take the doting big sister thing too far.

Orianna blushed. "J-just not interested I guess." Miranda gave a huge grin.

"There's a boy you're thinking about, isn't it?"

Ori huffed. "Let me guess, you…"

"Nope, don't need to hack anything to know when someone had a crush" Miranda said. "I went through the same thing, so what's his name?"

"Danner Gossimah, he's always asking questions in class. I don't think he even knows I'm alive" She said with a blush.

"Aw, puppy love, that's so cute…" Miranda teased.

Orianna face became redder. "Miri!"

Miranda chuckled, something she didn't hear much from her older sister. "Alright, aright, I think I can help"

Orianna's eyes lit up, as she clasps her hands and brought it up to her face in a pleading manner. "Pleez"

"Boys. You must be sure to always be true to yourself. I know that sounds like silly advice but if he isn't interested in the real you he won't be interested. You have to trust that when things are right he will notice you, and he will appreciate what you are both inside and out. You can't make yourself into something you are not…"

"…because you will never learn if that special someone falls for you or falls for a lie." Oriana finished. "You are pasting advice from 'Dear Dinah' column dated two weeks ago!

Miranda blinked. "How did you…?"

"We have the extranet here as well sis. God!"

Miranda lowered her head." I didn't mean to make you angry. I only…"

"I know... I'm sorry. I just hate all this. Being here and you're off doing whatever to save the world or whatever. I just hate it!"

"There isn't a point to saving the world if I can't even talk to my sister. I'm sorry. I am. Now why don't you tell me about this boy?" Miranda said.

"Yeah, OK. He's...different." Oriana said with a smile. Orianna played with her fingers, it was more than that really, Danner Gossimah was the guy every girl wanted…he was handsome, a straight A student, and captain of the biotiball team. And he has the reputation of being a nice guy also, he could have any girl he wanted, and she was so average.

"I hate him already."

"MIRI!"

Miranda chuckled. "I'm your big sister. I'm going to hate all of them. Accept it" Orianna's mother then yelled for her, she look at the time, they talked for a long time. "You better go or Alice will have a cow"

"Okay, take care of yourself sis, and tell Jacob I said hi"

"I will, and you keep those grades up, you hear?"

Orianna rolled her eyes. "Yes, mom"

_**Present**_

As Orianna caught her breath, she heard footsteps, it was them. "There she is! Get her!" one of the soldiers said. Orianna ran almost tripping over a trash can, she had to get away, and send message to her sister.

"Sir, we're close to getting her, but she's tenacious" one of the men said.

An older man appeared. "More like defiant, no doubt, Miranda's poisonous influence" he said. "Run her down, she'll get tired eventually"

_**Hours earlier**_

Joughim State university, the premier college on Benning, due to the colony being so close to Arcturus Station, not only does the Alliance help fund the school it also had one of the best engineering programs this side of Earth. Orianna and one of her friends came out of building it was after class that was when things had gotten weird, she felt uneasy, like someone was watching her. She tried to shake off the feeling, thinking it was just anxiety from the tests today but it was still there. Even being with her friends didn't help. She got up wanting to go home.

"Ori, are you okay?" Nja asked. Nja Simpson, an asari that she met when she moved to Benning, and one of the first friends that she made. Her mother was one of the few aliens that worked at the school; she was the alien culture professor for the class, while her father was a human soldier stationed at Arcturus Station. She was a sweet girl, that looked up to her father a lot, even going so far to want join the Alliance military when she graduated, even though she wasn't allowed to join due to not being human.

"Oh Nja, it's nothing just not feeling well"

"Oh I'm sorry to hear that, will you be well enough to come to the party?" She asked.

Orianna smiled. "Of course, it's just a little thing"

"If you're lucky, you may get the chance to talk to Danner" She said with a sly smirk.

Ori blushed. "Nja! Must you do that all the time?"

"I'm sorry, but your reaction is just too priceless"

"Bye, Nja…" Orianna said annoyed. As she was walking home the feeling only became much stronger, until she found herself running home, what she was running from she didn't know. She got home and shut the door and locked it.

"Ori?" She jumped and looked behind her. It was her dad, Michal Jameson, her father was a big man due to being former military, but he was also very smart who loved kids which was why he worked at the local elementary school not far from their house. He looked at her concerned. "You okay, sweetheart? You seem tense"

"Y-yeah, I'm fine" She then heard sound of glass shattering and a scream. Orianna and her father ran into the kitchen and found her mother on the floor bleeding. "Mom!"

"Alice!" They went to the woman, her shirt was covered in blood and glass, Orianna looked at the window and saw that the glass was full of bullet holes, someone was shot at her. Who could have done this? Her mother was just a simple middle school teacher, why would anyone hurt her? Her thought was interrupted from the croaking sounds coming her mother, she was choking on her blood. Alice's hand came up to her husband's arm and she weakly grasped his sleeve, blood dripping from her arm. Her husband grabbed her hand.

"Ori, Mic…" she said weakly.

"Nononono! Alice stay with me…" Her eyes started to close.

Tears fell from Orianna face. "Mom, no, please don't go!" She cried as her father held her, until they heard more glass breaking, this time from the side of the house, whoever murdered Alice was not done yet. Michal went to a drawer and got out of a pistol, he didn't like violence, it was one of the reasons he left the military because he didn't have the stomach for killing. But this was different, the love of his life was killed and his daughter was in danger, he could make an exception. He looked back at a scared Orianna.

"Ori, I need you to go" Michal said.

"Not without you, dad!" she said in tears. Michal kissed her forehead.

"Don't argue with me, baby girl, go and hurry!" Oriana reluctantly ran out of the patio door, the last thing she saw were soldiers in gray and gold armor coming into the room. Her father fired his gun at the soldiers, but they had a gray shield to protect them. They aim at Michal and gunned down her father. Orianna looked back in horror as she saw her father fall to the floor right next to her mother.

"DADDY!" she said in horror.

"Orianna go…please…" Orianna ran and never looked back, even as she heard one last gunshot.

_**Now**_

Orianna ran with the soldiers deep on her heels, unfortunately she was met with a dead-end. With the solders coming, there was only one thing she could do. "Miranda, please help! They're after me, they're…" Orianna then felt something hit her neck, and her vision became blurry and she became weak. As she fell to the ground a man in white came up to her. She couldn't make out his features from the blurriness, but when he spoke it sounded so familiar.

"Poor girl, if only Miranda didn't involve you in her grudge against me, then maybe you would have been spared this treatment" the man said. "Don't worry; soon it will all be over, my daughter…." All she could see now was darkness.

"Sir, the Illusive Man would like to speak to you"

"Are you done with your hunt?" he asked.

"Yes, I can work on your little projects now" Lawson said.

"I am sending you data on the phantom project; I want results in four months"

"Of course" he said. He then looked at Orianna. "And I've got the perfect start to the project"

"Well my daughter, it looks like your usefulness has extended" he said. "Get her on the shuttle, and do be careful to not damage our prototype"

"Sir!"

_**The Normandy**_

It was nighttime and Miranda was doing some reading until her omni-tool beeped. It was from Orianna, she then looked at the time. "That's strange, it should be night in Benning now is she calling so late?" she asked. She shook her head. "Probably need some info on boys again…" She opened a message.

"Miranda, please help! They're after me, they're…" she then heard a dull thud.

"Ori!" It was the next voice that made her blood run cold.

"Poor girl, if only Miranda didn't involve you in her grudge against me, then maybe you would have been spared this treatment" the man said. "Don't worry; soon it will all be over, my daughter…." The message was cut, Miranda's legs felt weak and she collapsed on her knees in a daze.

"No…" Her door opened and Jacob came in and saw her on the floor. He rushed to her side.

"Miri, Miri, it's me what's wrong?"

"H-he's got her…" She said with tears in her eyes.

"Who's got who?" Miranda then cried in Jacob's arms.

"My father, he's got her, he's got my sister!"

_**The twisted family history of the Lawsons has come to this! Will Miranda save her sister? And what does her father have in store for Orianna?**_

_**Find out Next Time! As always Review and Comment.**_


	20. Chapter 20: Path of the Krogan

**Chapter 20: Path of the Krogan**

_**Grunt's Room (The Normandy)**_

As the Alliance engineering crew was working hard on the Normandy, they heard a frustrated growl coming from the storage room. Despite letting Shepherd's crew stay on the Normandy, they were still wary of some of the members. Grunt was one of them, although many of the crew had said he was harmless. Grunt was pacing in his room, despite his loyalty to Shepherd and the Normandy crew; he was bored out of his mind.

Grunt growled. "What I wouldn't do for a reaper attack…they're taking too long to come" Zaeed was gone, so that meant no more war stories, Shepherd was still in lock down until something happened, so no more missions, he didn't even have the small feisty human, Jack to pick a fight with, and it seemed forever since he killed something. Plus the human homeworld didn't smell right, it was too clean….and the humans were too soft... his omni-tool rang; he ignored it at first, until it annoyed him. He opened it. "What?!"

"Is that anyway to talk to your clan leader?" A familiar voice asked. Grunt stiffened when he heard the voice, it was Urdnot Wrex, the de facto leader of the krogan people.

"Wrex...my apologies, I've been…"

"Bored?"

"Yes…"

Wrex chuckled. "Think nothing of it, I felt the same when I was on the Normandy" he said. "Being on a human ship, was strange"

Grunt huffed. "Tell me about, they don't appreciate a good head-butt or a good story on disemboweling a turian"

Wrex smirked. "Well since you are so bored, why don't you come home?" he said.

"Really?"

"Actually, I'm calling back all krogans to Tuchanka" he said. "We need to prepare…"

"The reapers…but what about Shepherd?" Grunt asked. Wrex gave a huge laugh.

"Don't worry about him; He wouldn't miss that fight for the world"

"I'll make preparation"

"Good" Wrex said. "There was one other reason I called you, I need to speak with that Mordin guy"

Grunt blinked. "The salarian, why him?"

Wrex grew serious. "It has to do with our people"

_**Mordin's Lab (The Normandy)**_

Mordin was in his lab as usual, hard at work, his latest mission figuring out how a Varren STD spread across some of the crew members. It wasn't the ground-breaking work of modifying the Genophage, but it at least kept his already hyper mind busy. Earth was a beautiful planet, of no doubt, possibly rivaling his homeworld of Sur'kesh, but it was deathly boring. His omni-tool rang.

"Yes, yes what is it? I'm quite busy" Mordin said working.

"Too busy to be talking me?" The salarian looked back, and was met with Wrex, the clan chief of the krogan, one the few krogan he had respect for. He was intelligent, rare among krogan he thought, charismatic and seem to be a capable leader….if the krogan were to unite under him, he would have no problem creating a cure for the Krogan people especially with Maelon's data with him. However, krogan culture was too chaotic, and their leaders never last that long, although he was impressed he was still alive and leading the krogan.

"Ah, Urdnot Wrex, Shepherd's friend, what can I do for you?" Mordin said looking in his microscope.

"You can tell me why the STG was on my planet taking away a dozen Krogan females?"

Mordin looked at him with his brow raised, a characteristic he picked up from the humans. "The STG on Tuchanka?" he asked. "What makes you think I know?"

Wrex narrowed his eyes. "Because once a STG, always a STG…"

"True, but in this case I really don't know, perhaps if you told me" Mordin said.

"About four weeks ago, one of my scouts spotted some salarians on the planet; all of them wear uniforms with the STG insignia on them." The krogan explained. "They were carting off the females, I want to know why"

"So you came to me? True, I still do have my STG connections" he said. "But I don't have a clue why, where did your scout find them?"

"At these coordinates" Mordin took a look and his eyes widen, it was the base where he found Maelon..

_**Months ago**_

_They enter the next room; Maelon was in the other end of the room scanning a holo screen with an Omni-tool. Mordin stepped past Shepherd, a frown creasing his features._

_"Maelon. Alive. Unharmed. No evidence of restraints. No torture. Don't understand."_

_The other salarian turned, he was slightly taller than Mordin, with reddish skin and a narrower jaw. His face didn't look like that of the rescued captive; it held emotions far more unpleasant. Maelon pointed at his mentor accusingly._

_"For such a smart man, professor, you always had trouble seeing evidence that disagreed with your preconceptions." He said angrily. "What will it take to make you realize I'm here because I wish to be here?"_

_"He came here voluntarily to cure the genophage" Kaiden said._

_Mordin was taken aback. "Impossible. Whole team agreed! Project necessary!"_

_"How was I supposed to disagree with the great Doctor Solus? I was your student; I looked up to you as a mentor!" Maelon said angrily._

_"Experiments preformed here. Live subjects! Prisoners! Torture and execution. Your doing?!"_

_"We already have the blood of millions on our hands, Doctor. If it takes a little more to make this right then so be it."_

_"No. Never taught you... this, Maelon!" he hissed. "What you did here... abominable, unacceptable!"_

_"So your hands are clean! What does it matters if the ground is stained with the blood of millions!" he said angrily. "You thought me that the ends justified the means. I will undo what we did, Professor. The only way I know how"_

_"Clan Weyrloc, are nothing but murdering thugs, if you cure them, then the galaxy might just decide to wipe everyone, you would be responsible for the end of the Krogan race" Kaiden said angrily._

_"We justified this atrocity by saying the krogan would cause havoc and war if their population recovered" Maelon said. "But look at the galaxy, Geth attack the Citadel, batarians attack colonies in the Traverse... we justified our action by saying that a krogan population increase would bring war, but what if a strong krogan military could have prevented those things? Maybe your humans would never have lost Eden Prime or the geth would have been stopped before nearly destroying the Citadel."_

_"Bullshit, you don't know that!" Shepherd said._

_"Maybe, we'll never know"_

_"ENOUGH! Have to end this!" Mordin said._

_"Don't you see? We tried to play god and we failed!" Maelon said fanatically waving his gun. Mordin charges his former student, Maelon tries to fire but one swift punch in the face by his teacher and the gun is dropped to the floor. It was obvious while Maelon was a student of the science Mordin had taught him, he was by no means a fighter like the older salarian. Mordin had Maelon pinned to the wall with his gun up to his head. Maelon eyes went wide with fear._

_"Unacceptable experiments. Unacceptable goals. Won't change. No choice Have to kill you."_

_Kaiden spoke up. "Wait, you're not a murderer, Mordin, you're better than this" Mordin's hand shook as he his gun stayed in Maelon's face. "If you do this, then you're proving his point"_

_Mordin took a deep breath. "No, not a murderer" he said lowering his gun. Maleon dropped to floor, shaken from being so close to death. Mordin put away his gun and looked at Maelon. "Finished, Maelon, get out. No Wreyloc left. Project over"_

_"You heard him, get out, now"_

_The younger salarian got up glaring at Mordin. "Where am I supposed to go?" Maelon asked._

_"Don't care, Try Omega, can always use another clinic" Mordin said_

_"The krogan didn't deserve what we did to them, Professor. The genophage needs to end" he said walking away._

_Mordin sighed and looked at the terminal. "Not like this" he said sadly. "Apologize, Shepherd. Misunderstood mission parameters, no abduction."_

_**Now**_

The krogan frowned. "You know why, don't you?" Wrex asked.

Mordin sighed. "We found Maelon, a fellow STG member, at these coordinates "he explained. "He was trying to cure the genophage, but his methods were brutal, disgusting…"

"So he grew a conscience, funny I didn't think you salarians had one" Wrex said barely hiding his venom. "But what do those females have to do with this?"

"When we were there, there were no survivors of Maelon's experiments, though we were too preoccupied with fighting Clan Weyrloc to have noticed explore more of the compound" he said. "But for there to be survivors, Maelon must have been closer to a cure than even I had thought"

Wrex's eyes went wide. "A cure exists…?"

"Few more modifications and a complete cure could be made" he said. Mordin then had a thought, female krogan were much smarter than their male counterparts, as impressed as he was with Wrex, he was only on krogan…betrayals were bound to happen. However if the females were to side with him, the krogan could be unified and a unified krogan could once again save the galaxy. "I'll make the call"

Wrex blinked. "You're helping? What are you up to?"

"Nothing, you've worked with Shepherd before, you know the reaper threat exists" Mordin said. "A cured krogan could help turn the tides, since I worked on genophage at one point, that makes me your people's best ally, no?"

Wrex chuckled. "A pragmatist I see, fine this is an alliance" he said. He then grew serious. "But if you screw with me…"

"I won't, I have my own reasons for wanting to help you"

_**Tuchanka**_

Grunt was on the krogan homeworld, as he got out the shuttle he sniffed the air, the smell of blood, the smell of gunsmoke and the growls of krogans fight for their dominance filled his senses, he was home. He walked through the compound to the main area, months later and it was still a pile of rubble, at first he was unimpressed that krogan homeworld was this pile of rubble but now he understood that this was a testament of krogan strength. He met with Wrex, who was sitting on his throne.

"Good you're here"

"So what's this about?" He saw other krogans with Wrex. "Who are they?"

"Grunt, do you know who the Aralakh Company is?" Wrex asked.

"No"

"They were feared far and wide by the galaxy, for taking down the last queen in the Rachni wars" he said. "Centuries later, they killed most enemies in the Krogan Rebellions, until they were killed"

"I'm resurrecting Aralakh Company, and I want you to lead them, Grunt"

Grunt blinked, for once he was speechless, he was going to be leader of his own team. He wasn't a battlemaster; he didn't know how to lead a squad. "You've already learned from the best leader, Shepherd, now it's time to apply to what you have learned" Wrex said with a smirk.

Someone spoke up; a krogan in black armor with a blue crest stepped forward. "You expect us to follow a tank-bred?" one of them said. "You insult us and Aralakh Company!" The other krogans grunted in agreement, Grunt growled, he wasn't just a tank bred he was a Urdnot, he had earned his place. Grunt stopped growling when he Wrex chuckling, the older krogan smirked at Grunt.

"And part of being a leader, is proving your strength…"

Grunt's eyes lit up. "Heh Heh Heh…" he said. "If you think you can lead better than me, then prove it!"

_**Sur'kesh**_

"Hold the krogan still!" One of the STG said. One of the female krogan was struggling against her salarian captors. The salarians wanted to do a health test, but she saw it differently, and tried to escape until the STG cornered her. The struggle continued with salarians being thrown like rag dolls.

"Damn it, we may have to put her down!" the leader said. "Weapons at the ready and…"

"Enough!" The salarians looked back and gasped at the sight of the STG veteran, Mordin, returning. "Barbaric treatment and you call yourselves STG? Shameful"

"All we were doing was giving her a simple test, and she went berserk"

"Then perhaps, I can try…" Mordin said walking towards the krogan female.

"Sir, I don't think that's…"

"I'll be fine" He came up to the female and picked up a syringe. The krogan picks up Mordin and gave him a look of anger. She then growled and held the doctor up; the soldiers raised their weapons up ready to put the female down. "No! No weapons!" The salarian reluctantly put their weapons away.

Mordin looked into her eyes, while as dangerous as the males, female krogan were calmer than the males. They usually didn't fight unless they had no choice, or their offspring was in danger but the female krogan before him looked tired and more scared than angry. "What is your name?" Mordin asked calmly.

The female narrowed her eyes. "I have no name…"

"No name? We can't have that, can't we?" Mordin said. "How about Eve? Human mythology, first female human, mother of all humans, would you like me to call you that?"

"It is…nice" she said. "My sisters have been through a lot, we just want rest"

"Then you will have it, I promise, we're just going to do a simple health test, that's all, we will not harm you" Mordin said. "I will make sure of it…"

"I don't believe you, salarians can't be trusted"

"Then I will earn your trust" He said with a smile.

Eve blinked, salarians were known for their secrecy their minds were like mazes and a person never knows just what they were thinking. But this salarian was different, she felt she could trust him…her eyes soften and she sat him down. "What is your name, salarian?"

"Mordin, Mordin Solus, a pleasure to meet you"

_**Grunt leading a squad of his own! Mordin, a mole for Wrex! How will this affect the approaching war?**_

_**Find out next time! As always, Review and Coment.**_


	21. Chapter 21: Duty

**Chapter 21: Duty**

_**Palaven**_

Palaven, the turian homeworld, a proud planet that's an important part of Council space. For fifteen thousand years, it had stood at the forefront of important events that had threatened to ruin the turian people. First was the unification wars, a bitter civil war between Palaven and the colonies that almost divided their own people. Then there was the Krogan Rebellions, where enemy threatened to raze the planet with fusion torch-powered asteroids. And last was the Relay 314 that threatened full blown war between the turians and the newly discovered species humanity. Throughout all of this, the turian people had endured to become the peacekeepers of the council races…however out there in dark space was an enemy that dwarfed all that they've been through. An enemy whose only objective was the complete and utter destruction of not just the turian species, but all species in the galaxy.

"Heh, no pressure…" Garrus said dryly looking up at the sky.

Garrus' shuttle finally landed on Palaven, it had been a long time since he seen his homeworld. Back in those days, he just a youngling trying to prove himself to his father, not that he could since nothing could impress him. He opened his omni-tool to call his younger sister, Solana, but all he had gotten was static. The turian sighed. "Still not answering…"

He wasn't looking forward to facing his father, but with his mother on her dead bed he had no choice, he didn't want his father to stop him from saying good-bye. He called a shuttle, and went to the hospital in Cipritine, the capital of Palaven. Cipritine was the shining jewel of the planet, it was home to the Cipritine Hierarchy Military Academy, one of the top schools in the Hierarchy, only the best of the best graduated from that Academy. Garrus graduated with top honors from the school, though it was to be expected, the Academy was something of a family tradition on Palaven it was not uncommon for whole family lines to graduate from a military academy.

He then looked out the window, and saw the families out for a day together, he saw the little younglings running around the parks laughing and playing soldier. Although they were considered the galaxy's protectors and enforcers of the law, not a lot of people know how the turians were like on their off days…the other species thought of them as pure military, but in truth we were no different from the other races. The shuttle stopped in front of Zohan Memorial, where he got out...Garrus sighed, he really wasn't looking forward to this.

"Garrus?"

Garrus looked to his side and saw a female wearing the same blue marking as him, his sister, Solana Valkarian. She was wearing a blue and red dress the asari usually wore, though it didn't look right on her, it was too demure for someone as fiery as Solana. The woman came over and before he could get his words out, Solana punched him in the face hard. Garrus rubbed his cheek, after all these years she could still punch.

"Solana"

"Two years…two years and you dare show your face?" Garrus looked away, two years ago when he was on Omega, he cut all contact with his family. The people he fought was dangerous, and had connections, it they had found out who he was they would go after them; he thought he was protecting them but had hurt them. Solana looked at him with hard eyes.

"I'm sorry…"Garrus said. "I had my reasons for leaving…."

"Save it, I don't want to hear excuses" Solana said. "So what do you want?"

"I just want to see mom…" Garrus said. "Before it's too late…"

"Mom was worried sick about you, worried that you were in trouble" She said. "Even after what you put her through, she still cared about you!"Garrus was silent, his mother was a kind soul always had been, even when she was confined to bed at times she was always looking out for her family. "I should not even let you see her, but seeing you would make her happy before the end…so let's go, I guess…"

Garrus nodded and followed Solana into the hospital, the smell of antiseptics filled the air, and the hospital was busy with citizens going in for check-ups. As they took the elevator up, the amount of people in for a check-up decreased and the more terminally ill appeared, it just reminded Garrus no matter how strong his people were, they died just like everyone else.

"How's mom?" Garrus asked.

Solana sighed. "The doctors are trying their best to keep heart clear, but its hard…" she said. "Mom was in a lot of pain, when the arteries in her arm were blocked, she had to go into surgery"

"What about the salarians? They're geniuses with kind of stuff" he said.

The female turian scoffed. "Dad tried that…when he heard that the salarians had a drug similar to what mom had taken, he went to buy it from them" She said. "The slimy bastards wanted double the price of her old meds, we couldn't even afford getting her a room here…if it wasn't for Dad's connections…" She tried to calm herself down. "Anyway Dad's with her, trying to make her comfortable"

"I see" They made it to the floor their mother was on, it was the ICU, the sounds of other turians in pain filled the air. Garrus tried to ignore it, but it was hard when he knew his own mother was in the same room. They went the room, three doors down and went in there he saw his mother on her bed with machines hooked up to her, trying to keep alive. It was hard to see, near her bed side was his father Kazen Valkarian holding her hand, being ever so tender to her for as long as he knew the man he never seen him so gentle and vulnerable. "Dad…"

Kazen looked up at him, and the younger turian flinched, even after all these years Garrus was still felt small under his gaze like he was judging him. But as Garrus looked at him, he looked tired; he hadn't been sleeping as well as he had been. Kazen got up and went to Garrus, the younger turian fully expected him to lecture him and call him a disappointment but instead he hugged him.

"It's good to see you, son…"

Garrus was speechless, his father was always a hard man, showing emotion was just not something he did it showed weakness. The younger turian hesitantly wrapped his arms around his father, this was so awkward to him, and his father sensing discomfort released him. He places his hand on his shoulder. "Welcome home, your mother's been asking for you awhile…." He looked back at his wife. "Yazma, Garrus is back…"

Garrus' mother looked at her son, and gave a weak smile. "Gari..." It's been long time since he heard that nickname, he used to be embarrassed when she called him that in public when he was child, but now he welcomed it as he would never hear her call him that anymore. Garrus took a seat at her side, and she placed her hand on his face. "I'm so glad to see you again, Gari"

Garrus looked away, she was glad to see her even after the pain she put her through. "Mom…I'm so…" Yazma gripped his hand and shook her head.

"You don't have to explain, son, I know you…" She said. "I'm just glad; my whole family is with me…." Yazma eyes closed, and Kazen placed his hand on Garrus' shoulder.

"She's tired, let's give time to rest" Garrus nodded and they walked out of the room, Solana stayed in the room with their mother to give them time to talk. Garrus was alone with his father, although it was not the time; he still had to warn his father about the Reapers. Before he could talk, Kazen spoke up. "So how is that human doing?"

"Boss? He's doing fine"

Kazen chuckled softly. "Boss, huh? I take it he's a person worth following…"

"Yeah, he's quite unusual for a spectre…he tries his best to follow the rules, but he'll bend him if it will save a life" Garrus said. "I think you would like him, once you get to know him…" Garrus went silent as his father nodded. "Dad, about me leaving, I hope you know that it wasn't an easy choice...I'm just sorry I made you guys worry"

"It's funny you should say that, when you left, I was very close to disowning you" he said. "But your mother reminded me of my youth…did you know when I was your age, I was kind of like you?" Garrus looked at him surprised; he didn't know that, the younger turian always thought he was the stickler for the rules. "I couldn't stand injustice, it didn't matter if they were human, asari or otherwise and so I took shortcuts…bent the rules so I could save a life but one day, my rash actions almost gotten someone killed"

"I may not have agreed how you've done things, but I understand the pressure of wanting to save a life" Kazen, placed his hand on his son's shoulder, the look on his face was almost welcoming. "Son, I'm glad you followed your own path, and I'm proud that you became a man of honor on your own" He started to walk into his wife's room.

"Thank you, father…"

_**Next time! As always Review and Comment.**_


	22. Chapter 22: Deal with the Devil

**Chapter 22: Deal with the Devil**

_**The Migrant Fleet**_

The Perseus Relay, three hundred years ago, the quarian people were forced away from their home and became the joke of the galaxy. Today was different, when quarians on their pilgrimages found out that they were truly taking back Rannoch they dropped everything and joined back with the fleet.

However the plan still had its opposition, especially from the Civillian Fleet under the control of the Admiral Zaal'Koris, but it didn't matter the emergency powers were absolute plus the flotilla was near the Perseus Relay, this war was happening rather Rael wanted it to or not. He had the power to stop it, if he chose to, only the one who invoked powers could drop it but Xen was holding data that could get him and more importantly Tali exiled. In the end, it would be his war…it was times like this that he wished he had a drink.

The door opened, and Shala came in."More ships have docked with us, Rael" Shala said.

"And?"

Shala sighed. "They are excited that we were going to take back the homeworld" she said. "Everyone is working harder than they ever did before; this war has given them hope"

Rael sighed; hope…he had given his people hope…no it was far from it, he had signed his people's death warrants. They were completely going in to this blind they didn't know geth's true strength, not even Tali's pilgrimage gift told them how much the geth have evolved. He lowered his head. "I see"

Shala looked at her friend. "For someone who declared war on the geth, you don't seem happy"

"Because this shouldn't have happened…we should have just colonized a planet in the Terminus"

Shala frowned. "If you felt that way, then why fight for the war? Why invoke the emergency powers?" Rael looked away. "Rael what happened?"

"Do you know what happen on the Alarei?"

"Yes…the geth infiltrated the ship…why are you asking?" Shala asked.

"The incident at the Alarei, I…I caused it…" Shala's eyes went wide.

"W-what?"

"I and others from the ship, rebuilt and activated the geth for weapon testing on the geth consensus" he said. "They found their way into the system, and proceeded to slaughter everyone, I was the only survivor"

"Y-you deliberately networked the geth to sapience?!" she asked. "You broke…"

"…our most sacred laws, laws that predate our flight from our homeworld" Rael finished. "I know…"

"Then the charges against Tali…they were true…"

Rael lowered his head, remembering how much he had hurt his daughter, the disappointment in her eyes was almost too much to bear back then. And now his friend, now had the same eyes, but he kept going...it wasn't like it mattered, the damage was done. "Only because I didn't tell her what the parts were for…"

"Then, Haestrom was your doing…I always wondered why you didn't contest this order…" Shala realized in horror, Haestrom was a death zone, many of the marines and researchers died on the planet. Only Tali and Kal made it off, and only because the Normandy was there at the right time… "I-if Shepherd wasn't there to save Tali…Keelah! Your own daughter!"

"After stopping the geth, Shepherd had all the evidence they needed to clear Tali, but they kept it to themselves, and Shepherd made me promise not to go to war with the geth"

"The colonization plans were from Shepherd?" Rael nodded. "And the reason, Tali isn't here?"

"I didn't call her; she doesn't need to suffer for my mistakes"

"Don't try to act noble now! You just did this so you wouldn't face her!" Shala said. She then punched Rael hard, and the man fell to the ground hard but she wasn't through Shala kept on beating on him…angry with what he put his daughter and now his people through "My best friend loved you, if she could see you now…!" Rael didn't defend himself, he just took the blows. The com broke through and Shala stopped.

"Admirals, everyone is ready, we will be making the jump soon"

"Understood" Shala said. She looked at Rael, who got off the floor, she resisted the urge to punch him again. "What changed your mind?"

"Xen, she threatened to expose everything, my involvement, Tali covering it up, and her relationship with Shepherd" He said. "Which is why…she asked me to invoke emergency powers"

"Which makes an Admiral immune during times of war, even immune to other Admirals" Shala said grimly. "I don't know who you are, but you are not the man I used to know, I'm only glad Tali isn't here to see how much further you've fallen"

"I'm sorry…"

"What you have done can't be fixed with an apology…" She said walking away from Rael.

_**The Illusive Man**_

The Illusive Man was in his usual place, overlooking his projects, and investments like any other puppetmaster. He opened a com and an Asian looking man answered. Kai Lang was formerly a lieutenant and N7 marine in the Systems Alliance known for having anti-alien attitudes. He joined Cerberus after he was dishonorably discharged from the Alliance where he is one of his top sweepers. Though he is loyal and efficient with his work, he has a short temper and a huge sadistic streak that sometimes get in the way of his missions, like his mission to retrieve Gillian Grayson.

"Sir"

"How's our newest recruit?" He asked.

Lang scoffed. "Inconsistent, one minute she is completing the course in three minutes and the next, its three hours" he said. Another man appeared in a white lab coat, he had an annoyed look on his face.

"Mr. Lawson, explain"

"The control chip is a prototype, I wanted to test it more, but Mr. Lang here insisted a field test"

"You were taking too long"

"Enough, both of you, can this be improved?" Illusive Man asked.

"Yes, I can study the data and make an even stronger one, it shouldn't take long" They then heard a scream coming from the new recruit, she held hands up to her head and started to smash her head against the ground. "Damnit, she's trying to fight the chip, foolish girl, just like her sister"

"I'll handle this" Lang went up to the woman who was writhing on the ground and stomped on her head hard.

"Mira…da" Was all she said before she was out.

"Work out the problems and I expect a report within the next month" Henry and Lang nodded. A man walked in.

"Sir, we have a problem"

Illusive man smoked a drab. "What is it?"

"Our cyber division has gone rogue, they just packed up their equipment and left" he said. "We haven't been able to find them"

The Illusive Man frowned. "Who was in charge of that division?"

"Dr. Brynn Cole and Gavin Archer"

"Search for them and exterminate, we can't let the Council or the Alliance get a hold of them"

"Sir!"

_**The Perseus Veil**_

Deep within the veil, the geth was hard at work building up their forces for the coming war, due to Shepherd destroying the heretics, the geth was a lot weaker before and had to rebuild. Legion went back to the consensus to help, its data on organics of the Normandy crew had been invaluable, but the one that stood to the other geth, the confrontation with Tali.

_**Data recording**_

_"Damn geth, I knew we couldn't trust you, I won't let you endanger the fleet!" Tali growled._

_"Creators preformed weapons test and were discussing plans to attack us, we believe it is necessary to protect our people, just as you protect the other creators" it said. "You protect the Creators from us, and we must protect our people from you"_

_"You…" Shepherd came in._

_"Stand down both of you" Shepherd ordered. "What in the hell is going on here?"_

_"This…thing scanned my omni-tool, and it's going to send data about flotilla back to the geth" she said. "That's not going to happen"_

_"We only do this to protect our people..."_

_"Tali, your dad were running brutal experiments, I could have reported that and got him exiled, but I didn't because it was you" Shepherd said._

_"I know, but…"_

_Shepherd then gazed at Legion. "And you, if you send that data, you will guarantee the Quarians attacking the geth" he said._

_"Analyzing this new data"_

_"That damn war was three hundred years ago, both of you will have to get over that at some point, or we'll all be paying for it when the reapers come"_

_Legion and Tali looked at each other. Tali put away her shotgun. "Look I can't let you send that data, but what if I give you some non-classified data to send, Legion?"_

_"The exchange of information would be agreeable, Creator Zorah. We express regret that previous actions might have caused hostile interaction between Creators and the geth."_

The consensus looked at this data, with more questions, usually when an organic saw the geth their first instinct is to shoot them. However, not only did the Legion model successfully join the organic crew, an organic stopped the model from being destroyed by a creator, it was obvious they did not know enough about organics. "There was a seventy-five percent chance of Creator Zorah destroying the Legion terminal" the consensus said. "Once Shepherd commander intervened, the threat decreased by thirty percent, this is unprecedented"

"The leadership of Shepherd-Commander is one factor, but there was more"

"Explain"

" Creator Zorah is bonded with Shepherd-Commander, without this, it was almost guaranteed this unit would have been destroyed"

"Shepherd-Commander and Creator Zorah, bonded? This is illogical…humans and the creators have incompatible software and thus cannot create offspring"

"EDI, explained that Shepherd-Commander and Creator Zorah were in love, which had an effect on the outcome"

"Love, an emotion of a strong affection and personal attachment, to think it has such a powerful effect"

"Yes, it is one of the re…" A rumble shook the consensus. "Alert: energy buildup coming from Perseus relay, signal confirmed, the Creators"

"Sending out cruisers" The geth cruisers was sent out as the quarians came out of the relay, they fired and was disabled by the Quarian's ship. "Alert: new Creator weapon"

_**The Migrant Fleet**_

Gerrel smirked. "You should be proud Xen, your weapons are a success"

"Was there any doubt?" she asked. "Shala are your patrol fleets ready?"

Shala didn't answer. "Shala!"

"Huh? Oh yes, they are ready."

"Back up the heavy fleet, while we charge the Arc Cannon"

"Of course" The com broke through, it was Korris.

"Who the hell do you think you are Gerrel?!" He asked angrily. "You converted the ships under my command into dreadnoughts and I don't find out until now?"

"This is war Korris; no one is skipping out on their responsibilities"

"But they're civilians! They don't have combat experience!" he said outraged.

"Now is the best time to get it"

"Damn you, Gerrel!"

"Just make sure you are ready when we call you" He cut the com off.

"Gerrel, I'm not sure how feel about this…" Shala said.

"We are winning and once we wipe out all the geth, the homeworld will be ours"

_**Perseus Veil **_

Meanwhile, the geth were getting pounded by the Quarian's new weapons, each blast from the weapons, dimmed the intelligence of the consensus. Even though the geth, were synthetic and shouldn't feel emotions, they felt nervous, maybe even fear. "Alert: dreadnought weapon firing" The Quarian's weapon fired and hit the geth ships, causing them to be dead in space. The geth was losing badly, only a miracle could save them, unfortunately, what they were getting was a curse.

"New data uploading, scanning source, origins confirmed"

"**DO YOU WISH TO PRESERVE YOUR EXISTENCE?**" A voice boomed in the consensus, it was alien, even to the geth, but it was familiar. It was an Old Machine, a reaper, their enemy, but in a twisted fashion it was their best chance for survival.

"Yes"

"**THEN TAKE OUR CODE**" it said. "**BUT KNOW THIS, YOUR FUTURE IS OURS, WHEN IT'S TIME THIS CYCLE WILL FALL**"

_**The second Morning War has begun! The reapers are closing in, the final battle is coming soon!**_

_**Next time! As always Review and Comment.**_


	23. Chapter 23: Enter the Psychotic Biotic

**Chapter 23: Enter the Psychotic Biotic**

_**Grissom Academy**_

The Vetus relay activated as several ships docked at a station in the middle of the system. This station was the Jon Grissom Academy; a school for humanity's brightest, the future of the race. Commissioned in 2176, their mission is to "serve the student population demonstrating excellence and passion for math, science, and the liberal arts." It's entirely human student body ranges in age from the early teens to the mid-twenties. Although the fact is not heavily advertised, the institution also offers classes for students with biotic capability. The school's Ascension Project seeks to train these students and integrate them into normal society. The shuttles docked at the station one by one, after three long months, school was back in session. The reception hall was abuzz with energy as parents were talking to teachers, teachers were discussing lesson plans for their upcoming classes, and students were talking to friends or girlfriends and boyfriends they haven't seen in months.

Entering the reception hall, was a fair-skinned dark-haired young woman with dark blue eyes, she looked around the room at the all the kids with their parents. They were smiling and laughing, some of the parents were hugging their kids saying they would miss them as they separated. The woman sighed, she was envious of that. "Are you okay, Ms. Julia?" The woman looked back at an older man who had a look of concern on his face, the family butler, Smith. The man was loyal to her family, as he's been with them since Julia was a little girl, since then he has been the consistent parental figure when her parents couldn't be bothered.

She sighed. "I'm fine, Alastair, just thinking…" Julia said solemnly. Smith came up and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sure your mother and father would be here if they could…" he said. Her mother and father in question was Ellen Washington-Rodriguez and Emillo Rodriguez one of the riches and important people in the Alliance. Her mother was the Governor of Elysium, the planet not far from the Academy and one of the riches colonies in the Alliance; she couldn't be there due to being in a meeting to establish trading routes to one of the other human colonies in the Traverse and the Terminus system. Her father was a member of the Executive Board on Noveria; he's been busy dealing with that accident from two years at one of the facilities on the planet.

Julia sighed, she loved her parents, but she wished they would spend time with her for once, or at least come to registration with her but it was too much to hope. "It's been years Alastair, I'm sick of their excuses" she said. "Come on, I need to get registered" They walked to the terminals, where the other students were registering for their classes, when it was her turn she registered for Intermediate Biotic Studies, a requirement for her since she was a biotic.

"Yo Rodriguez!" Someone shouted behind her. Julia looked behind her and smiled, as one of her friends came up to her. He was a young man her age; he was tan, with slicked back black hair, hazel eyes with a scar at the bridge of his nose. His name was Jason Prangley, one of the students in the school, he was from Earth and a former gang member from a group called the Tenth Street Reds. He was enrolled at the Academy at the same as she was, despite his rough look, the guy was sweetheart through and through or at least Julia thought so…

Smith groaned. "That thug…" he said with contempt. "I don't know why you associate yourself with that rabble…"

"Alastair, shush now, you promised to be nice" Julia said shaking her head. Smith did not like Prangley, he thought the young man was a bad influence on Julia, although he has proven that he is quite protective of Julia like himself. Due to that, Smith merely tolerates him, just barely to keep the young woman happy. He came over to Julia and gave her a noogie on the head, his unique way of showing affection, the young woman smiles and hugs him.

He held up his hand, greeting Smith. "Sup, Jeeves, still a stiff as usual" Smith wanted to say something, but bit his tongue. Jeeves was a nickname for him, a very, very annoying nickname for him. He nodded in acknowledgment. "So looks we're in the same class again"

Julia chuckled. "It seems so, Jason, is Mr. Jalla teaching us this year?"

"Naw, we got some dude named Jack Nought"

Julia raised a brow. "Nought? That's an unusual name…" she said. "I wonder what he's like?"

"Who knows, as long as we don't have that hard-ass Jalla, I'm gravy" Prangley said. "Guess we'll found out when Sanders take the stage…"

_**Backstage**_

"Jack, will you stop fidgeting?" Kelly asked with her hands on her hips. Jack was pacing around in the back, since she agreed to join as a member of the faculty for Grissom Academy; she had to agree to several unsavory conditions, well unsavory for Jack anyway. First Sanders was expecting for the ex-con to be professional, so that meant toning down the profanity and her more 'colorful' ways of talking. Second, she was expected to…dress up when it was a formal event and that meant wearing a uniform at times which she hated. She loosened her collar and buttoned it down, just enough to be 'respectable'.

"I see why Shepherd hates to dress up, shit I look ridiculous, this ain't me" Kelly was of a different opinion, she thought the ex-con looked attractive, even more than usual. She came over, kissed her on the lips, and smirked.

"I don't know, you know what they say about a woman in uniform…" she said seductively. Jack scoffed, although she was blushing. "Besides after this, you can wear anything you want"

"Good, cause my tits need air…"Kelly shook her head and look out of the stage, she smiled at all the kids and parents that was talking, after the hectic life on the Normandy it was nice to relax and enjoy regular life. Though it must have been a shock to Jack, since she was not used to this, a normal life would be good for her girlfriend at least it would teach her there was more to life than fighting though it would be moot once the Reapers come. She then saw Kahlee make her way to the podium, looks orientation was starting.

"Jack time to go, and do try not to scare the kids"

Jack scoffed. "No promises" She and Jack took their seats.

_**Reception Hall**_

Julia was sitting next to Prangley and Smith, as Headmistress Sanders kicked off the new school year. Back before she was third year, Headmaster Grissom would be at the podium, telling the students what was expected of them and all that other stuff. It was always boring, Grissom was just comes across old fashion, Sanders was different, she tried to make her speech short and interesting even though some of her jokes were cringe-worthy and awkward at times. When Sanders finished, the rest of the faculty were introduced, most of them were familiar faces and then the new faces, the first one up was a woman, and she had shoulder-length red hair that covered one of her eyes. She wore the Alliance uniform that the rest of the faculty wore; almost all the male students perked up when they saw her, Prangley was no exception.

"She's cute" Prangley said with a smirk. Julia rolled her eyes at her friend's lecherous looks at her. The woman spoke up.

"Hello there, my name is Kelly Chambers and I'll be the counselor for the Academy" She said. "If you need someone to talk to, my office is open 24/7, so don't be shy" Julia shook her head, they would be coming over alright, but not to talk about their feelings, teenage boys were so immature at times. Chambers sat down, and new person came up, this time the whole room was quiet. The person in question was a woman of similar age as Kelly, but unlike Chambers, she wasn't as soft as her. She wore the Alliance uniform like the others, but it was messier and buttoned down to show a little cleavage. It also showed some her tattoos, which was a lot, she even had a tattoo on the side of her head, though it was partly covered by her hair which was a ponytail with the sides shaved. Julia didn't know why, but her head was telling her to stay away from her, that she was dangerous.

Smith shook his head. "Appalling, faculty members for this Academy should show more professionalism than this"

"I don't think she care, Jeeves, you see those eyes, I've seen lots of guys back on Earth with eyes like that before" Prangley said. "She's been through some shit, more than I have, if she's a teacher I'd hate to be the poor suckers who have her…"

"The name's Jacqueline Nought, but that shit's too formal, so call me Jack" she said. Prangley and Julia eyes went wide and they looked at each other, she was going to be their new biotic teacher. "Listen up, 'cause I don't say stuff twice, I teach Intermediate Biotic Studies, and training, you want to survive my class…you better have the balls to keep up 'cause I don't go easy on no one"

"So enjoy today, ladies, because your date with hell starts tomorrow" Prangley and Julia gulped, this school year was going to be interesting in more ways than one….

_**In case anyone was wondering about Kelly's new look, I've based it off Ashley's look in Mass Effect 3 since she's dead in my story.**_

_**Next time! As always Review and Comment.**_


	24. Chapter 24: Answers

**Chapter 24: Answers**

_**Thessia**_

A shuttle approached the planet, inside was the Shadow Broker, Liara T'soni. She was going to the planet find the location of the prothean super weapon. While she looked for the weapon, the Alliance would continue to dig deep for more information on the weapon. The shuttle landed on the planet at the Athame Spaceport. She walked through the spaceport until she saw a dark blue asari in a yellow and white lab suit. She came up and shook her hand.

"Liara, it's been far too long" she said with a smile.

"Yes it has, Ahara" Liara said. Ahara Passante, was a former colleague of Liara, she graduated from the University of Thessia at the same time as she did. Ahara was amazingly brilliant, back when they were in school; they had a heated rivalry on who had the greatest knowledge on the Protheans which left some hurt feelings and even started some fist fights.

Nowadays, the rivalry has mostly cooled down as the two asari went their separate ways, Ahara was now a professor teaching at the University, while Liara was now the most infamous information broker in the galaxy, but she didn't need to know that. They took a shuttle and went to the Prothean archives in the Sarane district in Athame, the capital of Thessia. As they flying to the location, Liara looked out the window; the night sky of Thessia was beautiful as always. She remembered how looking at it used to give her relief especially when she was frustrated. Being the daughter of a Matriarch was not easy, especially when she one as respected as her mother Benezia, she often face with high expectations from everyone including her mother. That was why she got into archaeology, at first it was to get from under her mother's shadow, but then as dug deeper into the prothean's history she began to fall in love with their culture and began to truly embrace the science. Though it had caused a rift between her and her mother, something Liara regrets to this day…if she tried to understand her, would she still be here, could she have stopped Benezia from being corrupted by Saren? Liara would never know. Ahara spoke up.

"You're very quiet Liara, you okay?"

Liara snapped out of her thoughts. "Oh just thinking, about the past…"

"I see…do you ever miss it? The passionate discussions on the protheans?"

Liara chuckled. "Sometimes, back then things were so easier"

"You know, I can put in a recommendation, I'm sure the University would hire you" Ahara said. "Goddess know we could use more teachers as brilliant as you"

"Thank you, it's something to think about" She smiled sadly, Liara knew this could never be, teaching young minds was not for someone who had as much blood on her hands as she did. When they got there, the archives were under guard, but because it was night-time security would be lax. However, they still needed to be careful, prothean data caches were some of the most valuable in the galaxy, one intact data cache could shift the balance of power which was why they were guarded so aggressively. If they were found trespassing, it would end badly for the both of them. They made it to the archives, where Liara started to exam the data, she searched for a few hours but there was no info on the super weapon.

"So you never told me why you needed to see the Archives" Ahara said.

Liara looked back at her, she couldn't tell her she was looking for a super weapon capable of destroying a race of ancient genocidal machines, that would make her think Liara was crazy. "I'm writing a book on the protheans, and I was hoping for more information to fill my book"

Ahara chuckled. "Yeah, that sounds like you, I'm glad…"

Liara raised a brow. "Why?"

The asari sighed. "There had been rumors, that you have sold information on the black market" she said. "But that's crazy, you would never do that…"

"Yeah…crazy…" If only she knew the type of things she had done in the name of killing the last Shadow Broker, things she won't even tell Shepherd. "Trust me I would never do those things"

"Well good, cause you're better than that" Ahara then thought hard. "If you're still looking for stuff for your book, why not try Kahje?"

"Kahje?" Liara asked.

"Yeah, the hanar dug up some ruins recently near one of the drell's domed cities" She said. "It was all over the news, they said it was the second coming of the Enkindlers, or some silly stuff like that"

Liara thought about it awhile, it was long run, but maybe they could find info on the weapon there. "Thank you, Ahara, I'll look in to this…"

_**Kahje**_

Kahje, the hanar home world, with 90% of its surface covered by a vast ocean known as the Encompassing, Kahje is permanently enveloped in a blanket of clouds created by the heat from its energetic white star. Beneath that cloud cover, the planet's land area consists solely of small islands. Kahje's atmosphere is perfect for life; while containing some traces of ammonia, it consists primarily of oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen, similar to that on Earth. Unfortunately, the climate has also proved too humid for the non-native drell, who were evacuated there from their own dying home world by the hanar two centuries earlier, and they have found it more tolerable to live in climate-controlled domed cities.

Kahje is also dotted with Prothean ruins, which has shaped the religion and society of the hanar. Mount Vassla, an underwater volcano, is at the heart of one of the largest Prothean ruins. The winners of the religious events of the hanar holiday of Nyahir (or "First Cresting Bloom") are inscribed in bioluminescence on the sides of the mountain for a year afterward. Liara travels to the dome city of Za Rakhana (New Rakhana) the largest dome city of the drell, as well as the oldest hoping to gain access to the newly unearthed Prothean ruin. As she got out of the shuttle, she met with a hanar official and his drell assistant.

"Ah, Dr. T'soni, welcome to Kahje this one is pleased to meet you" the hanar said. "This one is called Quina"

Liara nodded. "Yes, nice to meet you Quina, have you receive my request?"

"Indeed, but this one is afraid your request has been rejected…" Quina said. "The Illuminated Primacy, was quite clear that no one was to disturb the shrine" Liara frowned, if she couldn't get to the shrine then there was no chance to locate the super weapon. She did the next best thing, she bribed him.

"That's too bad, Mr. Quina, the organization I represent was willing to make a hefty contribution to the upcoming Cresting Bloom holiday" The drell assistant spoke up.

"If I may be so bold, sir, isn't generosity is an Enkindler virtue?" he asked. "If her contribution is generous enough, then maybe she should be allowed to see the shrine, at least briefly…"

"Yes, though no contribution would be enough for such a privilege" Liara said politely. After a pause, Quina spoke up.

"This one will allow this, if your contribution is large enough" the hanar said. "Quoyle?" The drell typed in the number that was inspected for Liara to pay and showed it to the asari. Liara looked at the number, and smirked, the amount was easy enough to pay thanks to the resources she had as the Shadow Broker.

"We expect your tithe soon" Quoyle said.

"Of course" She said. Liara and Quoyle took a submersible to get to the shrine; however what they didn't know was that they were being followed by a unknown submersible. As they approached the shrine, Liara looked out the window, she saw all sorts of life-forms swimming in the waters, some large and some small. For a planet of mostly water, it was quite beautiful, and it was a shame tourists couldn't visit more of the planet due to the hanar's strict laws regarding their shrines. The drell spoke up.

"We're approaching the shine, since this is your first time here, let me set some ground rules" Quoyle said. "The shrine is sacred to both my people and the hanar, so do not touch, if you do I cannot be responsible for what happens to you"

"They would really shoot me for just touching a prothean artifact?" Liara asked.

"The hanar, no, at worst they would scold you for defacing the Enkindler's shrine" Quoyle said. "My people however, would not think twice…"

The asari frowned. "That's a bit extreme…"

"Please understand, Dr. T'soni, my people owe the hanar their lives for saving us from our homeworld centuries ago, we are very loyal to them and a lot of us have adopted the hanar's religion as our own" the drell said. "And some are more fanatical than others…." As they saw the shrine in view, the submersible alarms started to sound off.

"What's going on?" Liara asked. Quoyle checked the radar and his eyes went wide.

"Goddess of oceans…we're being targeted, and there are torpedoes heading for us!"

_**Liara's seach for the super weapon have taken the turn for the dangerous, how will she get out of this? And who is attacking them?**_

_**Find out next time! As always Review and Comment!**_


	25. Chapter 25: Power

**Chapter 25: Power**

**Kahje**

The enemy's torpedoes came at the submersible Liara and Quoyle were riding. The drell turned swiftly and the torpedoes missed, hitting the canyon below. Quoyle opened the com.

"This is Quoyle Salios, assistant representative Quina, we are under attack!" the drell said. "We are under attack!" Liara looked through the systems, looking for any weapons the sub may have, to her disappointment the sub they was not military grade but civilian grade. They had no weapons, and their enemy was armed to the teeth, they would have to rely on the shrine's defenses. Out of the ground around the shrine were several turrets, they were saved and just in time as the enemy sub locked on them. The alarm rang loudly, more than before.

"What's happening?!" Liara asked.

"No…the shrine's defenses are targeting us…" Liara's eyes went wide, as the turrets around the shrine fired their torpedoes at them from the front and the enemy's torpedo fired from the back. "Hang on!" the drell punched it and the sub climbed sharply as the torpedoes collided, some of the torpedoes came through and hit the enemy sub. The sub was destroyed soon afterwards, and sunk to the bottom.

"Salios to control room cease all attacks!" the drell said.

"They're not listening, something's wrong" Liara said. The alarms lit up again, they were being targeted again. The automated turrets fired on them and the drell tried to dodge it, but one of the torpedos hit the side of the sub. The sub was out of control, it took all of Quoyle abilities to not careen into the canyon walls below. The drell activated the subs emergency thrusters to keep the craft stabilized, barely missing the walls. Soon the sub was back under control; however that was not the end of their troubles as they heard splashing behind them. Liara looked behind her to see that they were taking on water, that last hit blew a hole in the sub. The drell went to auto-pilot and got out a mask designed for his people, their bodies were not made for the wet world of the hanar and that incapability led to diseases like Kepral's Syndrome. Liara went to the hole and used her biotics to block the water; she focused her mind and extended her barrier to the sub separating it from the water.

"Impressive, Ms. T'soni, your biotic abilities are exceptional" Quoyle said.

Liara chuckled a little. "It helps when you're the daughter of a Matriarch…" she said. Though as powerful as she was, creating a barrier this large would sap her energy very quickly. She became serious. "So what now?"

"Something's wrong at the shrine, I want to know what" Quolye said.

"But how do we get past the turrets?"

"The automated systems have a blind spot, if we hug the canyons long enough we should be able to get past the turrets" He said.

Liara raised a brow. "Should?"

"The canyon is also a dead zone, one small slip and the pressure will suck us in and crush us" the drell said. "Your barrier should help, creating a buffer zone for safe passage, so please hold on for now…" Liara nodded, as Quoyle guided the sub along the canyon, one wrong drift and they would be at the mercy of the pressure. So far it was quiet, the turret hadn't looked on them yet, however Liara hoped they would get there soon as the asari was starting to feel the strain of keeping the barrier up. The sub climbed slowly underneath the shrine, and entered through the emergency shaft at the bottom. The water drained revealing a path into the shrine; Liara released her barrier, and fell to one knee, exhausted. "Are you okay? We can rest if you want"

Liara shook her head and stood up. "No, we need to get find out what's wrong…" They went through the shrine, the asari wanted to admire the architecture of the shrine, but now wasn't the time as they discovered the bodies of the staff. "Now we know why the shrine's defenses attacked us"

Quoyle frowned. "How did this happen? The shrine guards are some of the most dangerous people in the galaxy" he said. "Most of them are former assassins for the Primacy" Liara went down and analyzed the bodies; all of them had their throats cut. Before she got up, Liara heard a grunt from behind; she looked behind to see a sword sticking out of the drell. Behind him was a soldier reappearing, in familiar silver and black armor, Cerberus.

The Cerberus solder, took out her sword and the drell dropped to the floor. She then aimed for Liara, swinging her sword for Liara's head; the asari dodged and pushed the soldier against the wall. Before the she could recover, Liara impaled the soldier with a shard of debris through her head. After the battle, she heard groaning coming from her side, Quoyle was alive; the soldier's sword missed his vitals by a bit.

The asari went to his side. "Quoyle, are you alright?" Liara asked.

Quoyle groaned. "Yes, though I'll be remembering the pain for years to come" he said. Liara was getting out medi-gel to heal the drell's wounds, but Quoyle stopped her. "No, you'll need it, for when you encounter more of those soldiers…"

"But your wounds…" Liara said concerned.

"I'll be fine, I can take it from that soldier you killed" Quoyle said. "You must hurry to the center, protect the shrine" Liara nodded, she went to the dead guards and took their weapons. The shrine was full of Cerberus troops, Liara frowned, what were they after? Whatever the case, she could allow this to continue.

"Intruder!"

"Damn it…" The Cerberus trooper opened fired on the asari, as she went to cover. She shot the first trooper in the head; in the fallen trooper's place was a much more heavily armored trooper. He threw a smoke grenade that obscured her vision, Liara moved out of the smoke only to be flanked by more troopers. They opened fired on her, as Liara created a barrier to block the bullets, she then expand the barrier and knocked them down. She then gunned each and every one of them. After dealing with the Cerberus troops, she made it to the center of the archives. From the looks of it, Cerberus had a hard time trying to unlock the data cache inside, luckily for her she could get through easily.

"Well done, Dr. T'soni…" Liara quickly turned around and aimed her gun to find the Illusive Man via hologram. The asari scoffed, it figures he wouldn't show himself in person. "I should thank you for dealing with our mess, I'm grateful"

Liara frowned. "Don't be, I know you were the one who sent them"

"Not at all, this was the action of a rogue faction nothing more and nothing less" he said. "Do you really think I would waste resources on something as sloppy as this?"

The asari narrowed her eyes. "I wouldn't put it pass you"

"Please Dr. T'soni, we're ultimately on the same side, I want what you want" The Illusive Man said. "A way to stop the Reapers, we should work together…"

Liara calmed down. "I agree, why don't you share your information on defeating the Reapers first…" The Illusive Man didn't answer. "Why so quiet, Illusive Man? Didn't you say we were on the same side?" When he continued to be silent, Liara guessed he either didn't have it or he was keeping it to himself, either way she had what she came for. She began to walk away until the Illusive Man spoke up.

"Such a shame…" Liara looked back. "With all the resources you have at your disposal, it's such a shame this is the best you can do as the Shadow Broker…." He said. "It's no wonder the black market is starting to see you as soft and primed for usurption"

Liara narrowed her eyes. "Taunts? Is this the best the leader of Cerberus can do? I'm disappointed…"

"Whether, you think so or not…you need me, Shadow Broker"

Liara scoffed. "Really? I seem to remember that you are the one trying to make deals" She said walking away. "Oh the next time you try to kill me, bring an army"

"Noted, Broker…" The hologram faded. Liara went back to Quoyle and helps the drell to the shuttle bay and they left the shrine where the hanar official was thankful for protecting the "Enkindler's gift". Afterwards Liara left Kahje, and analyzed the data, first was the location of the super weapon, and a second information was missing, most likely taken by Cerberus which was why the Illusive Man came to her. She contacted Admiral Hackett.

"Dr. T'soni, good to see you"

"You too, Admiral, how goes the data mine?"

"The scientists have hit a breakthrough, they found some blueprints, and they're now working to translate them" Hackett said. "What about your end?"

"I found the location of the weapon, come to these coordinates, and bring only people you trust…"

_**Two chapters left until the war begins!**_

_**Next time! As always Review and Comment!**_


	26. Chapter 26: The Tale of Two Shepherds

**Chapter 26: The Tale of Two Shepherds**

_**Alliance HQ/Toronto, Canada (Earth)**_

The team was in Shepherd's room waiting with bated breath for news from Natalia. Three months ago, Ambassador Osoba started his investigation of the Bahak incident and Shepherd's involvement in it. They didn't hear much about the report, but there have been talks among the regular soldiers that the Committee was thinking about reinstating Shepherd back into the Alliance, though it was just rumors. Either way, if it came out that Shepherd had nothing to do with the incident, he would a free man. Natalia came into the room; she had a huge grin on her face, which was always a good sign…

"Commander Shepherd, I'm happy to announce that you are officially a free man" Natalia said. Shepherd sat back on his bed bewildered as the others cheered, Tali pounced and hugged him tightly. Natalia spoke up. "It gets better the news has reached the Councilors all talks of revoking your spectre status has dropped" Natalia smiled. "I'll leave you to your celebrations…"

"Keelah, that's great, isn't it Wayne?" Tali asked.

"Huh? Uh, yeah…" Shepherd said.

"Something wrong, Wayne?" Kasumi asked.

Shepherd shook his head. "No, no just thinking about what I'm going to do next…" Shepherd was free, but he didn't know what to do next. The committee couldn't keep him here, but he couldn't stay on the Normandy due to the Alliance claiming the ship when the Committee thought he was done. Though that may not matter when they reinstate him in the Alliance, and knowing Anderson, he would fight his hardest to make sure Shepherd keeps the Normandy. His thoughts were broken when he heard some cheers outside his window. "What the hell?"

The team went to the window and saw a huge crowd of people standing outside the building, and all of a sudden white doves flew up. "Well, they seem happy…" Kaiden said. Happy was an understatement, the crowd was jubilant it almost disturbed the spectre, he didn't mind flaunting his celebrity at times cause it was mostly for getting score discounts but this was hero-worship he didn't know what to do with that…

"Yeah…let's go through the back…" Shepherd said.

"Um..is it me or is it getting louder?" Lia asked. Shepherd and the other came to attention and found it was getting louder. Shepherd frowned and went to the door; he cautiously opened the door and found a flood of flashing lights, microphones, and shouting reporters in his face. In front of them was a curvy woman in a tight white dress with a camera drone.

"Commander Shepherd, Diana Allers, Alliance Network News" she said. "What's next now that you're a free man?"

"Uh…"

"Commander, will you sue the Alliance for wrongly accusing you?" Another reporter asked. The roar of questions came from the reporters; Shepherd was overwhelmed trying to answer them all. He looked back at the others.

"A little help guys...? Uh…guys?"

_**Unknown**_

While Shepherd was being interviewed, a ship was flying in an unknown sector of space. A man in the dark was watching the interview while spinning a knife on its tip. He gave a low growl at the man before him, he had the same voice as him, the same face as him, but unlike Shepherd he didn't have his memories. When Shepherd died two years ago, Cerberus sent out their best operatives to retrieve Shepherd's body for their Lazarus Project. In the event the Shepherd couldn't be revived by the project, the organization had a back-up plan.

The plan was called Project Gemini, and its goal was if Cerberus could not revive the original, then they would simply replace him with his clone. Gemini like Shepherd was a Sentinel class biotic, he had his hand to hand combat experience and knowledge of the Alliance but for all that he didn't have Shepherd's charisma nor did he have his memories which made infiltration impossible. So when Project Lazarus began, Gemini would be used as an organ farm to make sure it was a success, however it was not needed as they successfully revived him and soon afterwards Gemini was put on ice…until now.

Gemini gripped his knife and with a roar threw it clean through the vid-viewer. The device sizzled and exploded as he breathed heavily. "You know, you really have to control that temper, we can't keep on repairing stuff on the ship just because you had a temper-tantrum" a voice said behind him. Gemini looked behind and a dark-skinned woman wearing nothing but her bra and panties came down.

The clone scoffed. "If you would hurry up, Shade, I wouldn't have to break your toys" Shade, was the name the woman gave to Gemini when she broke him out of his confinement, when he asked why did she free him, she said it was for humanity…something to this day he does not believe. The woman was an enigma, she worked for Cerberus for a certain amount of time and she was somewhat good in combat but that was all Gemini knew, he didn't even know her name as she had several names that she had used.

"Maya…"

"What?" he asked.

"My name is Maya Brooks, do try to remember that when we land" She said wrapping her arms around his body. "And I told you, we can't go after him until…"

"Until we have built up our power, I know, I'm not stupid…" Gemini said. "I just can't stand the thought of him, wearing my face…."

"Well to be fair, it was his face first…" Shade said dryly.

He scoffed. "So glad you find my predicament so fucking funny…" Shade smirked and down at the table, she took out a cigarette and lit it. Gemini waved away the smoke, another thing he shared with Shepherd, the dislike for cigarette smoke. "So where are we going?"

"A Cerberus lab…" Gemini looked at her and narrowed his eyes. "Oh relax, we're just going there for more allies, they have been quite disillusioned with the Illusive Man's new path and wants to play for our team" She blew out some smoke. "They agreed to give us some weapons and some of their top line ships"

"Fine as long they keep their distance" he said. "What about that merc group we talked to months ago, CAT-6?"

Shade frowned. "Apparently the leader is not taking us seriously; we'll have to remedy that…"

_**The Normandy**_

Back on Earth, the press was insatiable with their questions and wouldn't hound Shepherd; causing the spectre to hide in the one place they had no access to, the Normandy. If this was what he was going to go through when he was outside, he rather be under house arrest. Shepherd looked around his room; it was going to be strange being away from the Normandy after living on it for past months, it was place he felt at home.

He looked on his omni-tool and searched his account; with enough credits he could buy himself and Tali a nice apartment near Alliance HQ. As for the others, Kasumi dug into her family's banking account to get some money to afford an apartment for herself and Lia, Kaiden decided to stay at the barracks at HQ to keep an eye on the Normandy make sure the Committee didn't try anything. Joker was staying on the Normandy, although Shepherd was not surprised, he'd have to be threatened at gun point to leave the ship and even then that would be hard. Plus he was staying on to protect EDI, though the spectre thinks the Alliance members were slowly realizing she was AI not a VI. The door opened and Tali came in.

"James and Kaiden are almost done beating back the human press" she said. "Keelah, and I thought the Citadel's press was annoying"

Shepherd chuckled. "Trust me, you haven't seen anything yet" he said. The two of them laughed.

Tali sighed. "So strange to be living on a planet…I'm very interested to see what human culture is like"

"We'll make it a date" Shepherd looked at the decon-unit, that would have to stay on the ship, and the parts to make another would be hard to come by. Which meant Tali would have to stay in her suit for a while so she wouldn't get sick by Earth's atmosphere, but at least she was with him. The spectre started packing and when he was finished they went down to the CIC, as they walked towards the entrance they saw Adams.

"So, getting out of here, huh?" he asked. "You know you can always stay…"

"Nah, we wouldn't want to get in the way" Shepherd said. Tali walked out of the Normandy and Shepherd was going to follow, but Adams spoke up.

"Commander…about Cerberus…I owe you an apology…" he said.

Shepherd looked back. "How so?"

"Back when you got this ship, Joker contacted me and asked me to help you with the Collectors" Adams said. "I refused…I didn't trust Cerberus, I didn't trust you…I should have known that you wouldn't join them and for that, I'm sorry for doubting you…"

Shepherd placed a hand on his shoulder; he understood how it would be hard to swallow that an old comrade would betray everything they believed in. If Shepherd was in his shoes, he would doubt himself too. "Don't worry, I understand, you're Alliance first…plus after all the shit we been through, it was probably for the best"

"Thank you Commander, that means a lot, and don't worry I'm with you 100%"

Shepherd smiled. "I know…" He left the Normandy.

_**One chapter left until the war!**_

_**Next Time! As always Review and Comment!**_


	27. Chapter 27: Armageddon

**Chapter 27: Armageddon**

_**Liara's shuttle**_

Liara was in her shuttle, going back to Hagalaz, to search for the reapers again. Due to what she had found, it made the Shadow Broker more determined.

_**A Month Ago**_

_Liara was waiting in her shuttle waiting for Admiral Hackett. She looked at the sight before her; the prothean weapon in front of her was huge. The device didn't look damaged only incomplete though without going in they could not find out the full extent of any damage. The shuttle beeped, Admiral Hackett was approaching, the Admiral's ship hailed her shuttle. And Liara vessel docked with the dreadnought, SSV Kennedy, the ship was huge though all dreadnoughts were. She came out of the shuttle and met Hackett and his entourage, she received some looks as she waiting, it was not a surprise it was the same back on Mars. The Alliance did not trust aliens even after they joined Council, if it weren't for the fact that they had members like Shepherd and Kaiden among their ranks, they could have easily been seen as a lighter version of Cerberus. _

_Admiral Hackett shook her hand and they went to the bridge. The soldiers stood up and gave the Admiral a salute while some of them gave the asari dirty looks, if she hadn't toughened up those years before she might've shrink at their gaze. "So this is it? God that thing is huge…"_

"_Yes, my guess is that the power it has is closer to that of a mass relay" Liara said. "If Cerberus had gotten their hands on the location…"_

_The Admiral looked at her and frowned. "Cerberus was there?"_

_The asari nodded. "Yes, they had killed the drell guards and taken some of the data from the Archives" she said. "We were lucky they couldn't dig deeper to find the location"_

"_The scientists have dug up blueprints to this thing, they said it was surprisingly simple but elegant in scope" Hackett said. "Building this thing will be the greatest attempt in human history…"_

"_And don't forget galactic history, it may take everyone to build the weapon" Liara said. "I'll continue to search for the reapers on my end, as for the weapon I would keep its location secret from Cerberus, you know how they like their sleeper cells"_

_Hackett nodded. "Godspeed Doctor…"_

_**Now**_

As her shuttle entered the Sowio System, her omni-tool beeped, it was Garrus, the man she loved. He was dressed in ordinary clothes, it's been a long time since she seen him in casual clothes. Liara smiled. "Garrus, how are you doing?"

"Fine, I'm back on Palaven, I…had to bury my mother" he said solemnly.

"Goddess, I'm so sorry for your loss" Liara said sadly.

"Don't worry about it, Li, we turians are made of tough stuff" Garrus said. "What about you? How have you been doing?" Liara sighed and pitched the bridge of her nose, she was exhausted searching for the reapers, the weapon and getting into a life or death struggle with Cerberus really took a lot out her. She started to wonder if other maidens' lives are this exciting or if it was just her….

"Finding the reapers is much harder than thought even with the Brokers resource"

"Not surprising, they're sneaky bastards, I'm trying to get Palaven ready when they come" he said.

"Do you think your father will listen?" She asked concerned. She had heard a lot about his father, an ex c-sec officer with ties to the Hierarchy government. He is very by the books kind of person, and according to Garrus very stubborn, though the young turian probably shouldn't talk.

Garrus smirked. "Heh, he's getting me an audience with the Primarch" he said. "If this works, the whole might of the Hierarchy will be ready" Liara nodded, the Primarch wasn't just the leader of the turians, he was also the leader of the military, whether his people go to war or not depended on him.

"Having the Turian fleet will help, but we need…"

"Boss, I know Li, we can prepare all want, but Shepherd is the only one who can pull us through this"

Liara shook her head. "It's too cruel, no person show have to shoulder such a burden"

"I know, but, he won't have to shoulder this alone" Garrus then heard a voice. "Ah, looks like it's time, wish me luck…"

Liara smiled. "Luck, take care of yourself Garrus"

"You too, Li" The image went away. The shuttle made it to Hagalaz, but unknown to Liara, she was being watched.

_**Outside Hagalaz**_

A lone ship was waiting, waiting for the perfect chance to act. "Sir, the asari has landed"

"Good, tell everyone to finish their perpetration" The captain's com beeped. "This is Captain Jones of the Fenrir, identify yourself"

"This is the crusier, Albion, I'm here with the Osiris, the Ifirit, and the Anazi, awaiting your orders" he said.

"Have your people finish making preparations?"

"Yes, it is an all green for the other ships too" Jones gave a smirk.

"All hands, ready weapons and shields, We are going in"

_**The Shadow Broker ship**_

The shuttle landed in the ship's private hanger away from her agents, she may be looking to save the galaxy, but she still had to keep her identity a secret, she couldn't risk having traitors not when the reapers could attack at any time. Before Liara could make it to her office, Feron ran to her, she could tell from the drell's face, that something was wrong.

"Feron, what is it?"

"It's Omega….it's been taken by Cerberus"

Liara's eyes went wide. "What? How?"

Feron sighed. "Aria was caught off guard, but Cerberus underestimated how far the citizens would go to protect the station" he said. "They were close to running them off the station"

Liara frowned, that sounded about right, Aria may have been a thug but she was a very capable leader. Cerberus would not be able to oust her so easily, not when she had the loyalty and respect of most of the people on Omega. "What changed?"

"Fifteen Cerberus cruisers, they threatened to destroy Omega, if Aria didn't surrender, they would have looked at a massacre"

"Where is she now?"

"Last I heard she was going to the Citadel" he said.

"I doubt the council would allow it, considering she is the leader of the Terminus Clans" Liara said.

"I thought that too until, I ran across some data, apparently Aria have some history with Councilor Tevos, what that history is in detail, I don't know" Feron said. "But that's not end of the bad news…"

Liara signed. "Tell me"

"There has been some activity at the Perseus relay…"

Liara frowned. "Perseus…oh no don't tell me…."

"It is exactly as you guessed; the Quarians have declared war on the geth"

"Now? With the reapers approaching? How can they be so foolish?" she asked. She then had a horrible thought, Tali was very loyal to her people, there was no way she would leave her people when they declared war on the geth. Not even her love for Shepherd would stop her from joining them in battle. "Is Tali…?

Feron shook his head. "No, as far as I know Tali'Zorah is still on Earth with Shepherd"

Liara sighed. "Good, she's a good friend, she needs to be spared of her people's foolishness for once" she said. "Anything else?"

"There have been reports of a mass migration of krogan to Tuchanka, by order of Urdnot Wrex" Feron said. "Including a krogan, that matches the description of Urdnot Grunt"

Liara nodded. "So the krogan are preparing, good we will need them, and hopefully they can stand a chance despite the genophage" The ship then shook, almost causing Liara to fall. "What was that?!" The com came up.

"Broker, we're under attack!"

"From who?" Liara said in her distorted voice.

"IFF reads Cerberus, oh shit! They're starting to board" The com was abruptly cut off, Liara frowned, it seems the Illusive Man took her army challenge seriously. Her agents were well-trained, only the best of the best could be recruited to serve the Shadow Broker, but unfortunately Cerberus was as trained as her agents.

"How did Cerberus find us, I thought the Normandy AI deleted anything Cerberus had on us" Feron said.

"The Illusive Man is a very pragmatic man, I doubt he wouldn't have copies" She said. "Grab a weapon Feron; we will need to protect the ship"

Feron shook his head. "No, get to the hanger, I give you time"

"No way, I'm fighting with you"

"Liara, you can't fight, you are the Shadow Broker in your hands is information that could save the galaxy"

"But…"

"I promise your bondmate, that I would protect you, I'm keeping my word" he said. Feron took a rifle of the stand. "Go I'll catch up!"

Liara hesitated. "Okay, I'll get as many of the resources on to the shuttle a I can" she said. "Be careful…"

Feron smirked. "If I can survive the old Broker, I can survive this" He went to join the other agents. Liara went to the terminal, Ferron was right, she did have information that could save galaxy and if Cerberus get their hands on it, they could ruin the war effort.

"Glyph, upload as much of the data as you can" A sliver-gray drone appeared.

"Of course, Dr. T'Soni" Liara went to work to save the data.

_**Untrel System (Kite's Nest)**_

After the Trial, the reputation of the Hegemony went on a downward spiral; Shepherd's reputation of the hero of the citadel was stronger than even they thought. However they somewhat knew that this was going to happen, so they accelerated the project they started two years ago. And the research bore fruit, an ancient warship, and prothean, possibly older. With this, they hoped the Batarians and the Hegemony will reclaim their place in the galaxy. However, things are never that simple.

"Balak, we have a problem…"

"What is it?" Balak was a terrorist that tried to crash the asteroid X-57 into the Human colony of Terra Nova; he was stopped by Shepherd and spent the next two years rotting in a cell. However thanks to the Hegemony; he was able to escape custody of the Humans, and was personally chosen to head the project. When the project was done, the first thing he was going to do was get his revenge on Shepherd.

"We just lost contact from Khar'shan and the Hegemony"

Balak's eyes went wide. "What? Can't you get anyone?"

"No, something's wrong…"

Balak frowned. "Make preparation for the relay…." Someone spoke up.

"We have another problem, there's activity coming from the relay, something big is coming…" he said. The relay sparked and a ship came through, it was a ship they had never seen before, it was a black-grey ship with multiple limbs sticking out, it looked like the Earth animal, the squid. But there was something else about the ship, it struck terror in the batarian, it was something primal when they looked at the ship it felt like darkness was closing in and crushing them. "It's heading for Khar'shan"

"Intercept it!"

_**Hagalaz**_

Feron went to meet the agent, when he got he was shocked. It was a blood bath; Cerberus was pushing them back like they were nothing. He saw a turian being out manned by Cerberus, he went to join him. The drell could see faint shimmer of light, it had female form and was about to stab the turian from behind, Ferron took out his pistol and shot the light in the head. The soldier fell to the floor and decloaked.

The turian turned his head. "You, you're that drell, the Shadow Broker captured you!"

"Things change, now are you going help push them out or not?" The turian nodded and glowed blue. He threw a throw field and knocks one of them against the wall, with a sickening snap. Ferron was impressed by the display, turian biotics were very rare among the Hierarchy, as they didn't trust them, their lost was the Broker's gain. Feron, shot the compactors and shock the upcoming crowd. A comm broke.

"Feron, I got the most of the equipment on board, we need to go!"

"Got it" He looked at the turian. "Let's get out of here"

"But Cerberus…"

"Do you or do you not want to live?" The turian looked at him.

"Yes, I want to live…" He ran away with Feron, to meet with Liara. Turian was utterly shocked when he met the Shadow Broker, he expected the Broker to be bigger from the voice. "An asari…"

"Liara, we're here" Liara nodded and raised the comm.

"This is the Shadow Broker, calling all agents, you are to all abandon the ship, immediately" she said. "This ship is no longer safe"

"Are sure we should just abandon it, Cerberus could use it as another resource" The turian said.

"Who ever said I was going to the leave the ship in one piece?" Liara asked. The turian blinked and Ferron just nodded. The three got on the shuttle and left the ship as with rest of the broker agents. Liara opened her omni-tool and pressed the code for the self-destruct. As the shuttle left the planet, they could only watch as the ship went down in flames along the Cerberus troops.

_**Illusive Man**_

"Sir, we got news from Captain Jones of the Broker raid team"

"And…?" He asked.

"The Broker destroyed the ship, and some of our men were on the ship…"

He took a sip of wine. "But the ship is no more?"

"No sir, we never had a chance to co-op the network"

"Acceptable losses, either way, the broker won't be a problem anymore"

"Sir!" A new image came up. "Speak…"

"Sir, the Alliance found something…interesting on Mars…"

_**Luna-Three months later**_

Luna, Earth's moon, in the early days space exploration the moon was an early source of helium-3, Luna is now mined for materials used in space habitat construction. Two dozen major stations have been constructed at Earth's L4 and L5 Lagrange points, all from lunar resources. Anderson came to the base due Hackett finding something, when he got there the people was working franticly to find out why their posts were going dark. "How bad is it?" Anderson said.

"Bad, we just lost contact with our deep-space outpost, they were keeping tabs on the Batarians, making sure they didn't try anything" Hackett said.

"Did we get anything?"

"One, a massive blip on long-range sensors" he said. "Whatever it was, it just wiped out the Batarian homeworld…"

Anderson frowned, the Hegemony had very capable soldiers, for the whole homeworld to be wiped out had to be immensely powerful. He didn't want to believe, but it seems the day of reckoning was upon them. "Is this what Shepherd warned us about?"

Hackett sighed. "I'd bet my life on it"

"How long do we have?"

"Not long, I've sent word and the fleets are mobilizing" Hackett said. "You know what you have to do…"

"God help us all…"

_**The time for waiting is over! The Reapers are here!**_

_**The Battle for Survival begins next time! As always Review and Comment.**_


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